Marines To Mark 66th Anniversary Of Iwo Jima

10news.com ^ | February 19, 2011 | Staff

[lbryce]

Camp Pendleton Marines will commemorate the 66th anniversary of the bloody and heroic Battle of Iwo Jima on Saturday evening.

The island south of Japan was where the iconic photograph was taken of Marines raising an American flag in the heat of battle.

Marines landed on Feb. 19, 1945, to claim an emergency airfield for damaged B-29 bombers returning from Japan.

Japanese soldiers, with the advantage of caves and high ground, contested every inch of land over the next five weeks and inflicted 26,000 casualties on U.S. forces, including about 6,800 killed.

The public part of the commemoration will include a memorial service at sunset at the Iwo Jima Monument at the base's South Mesa Club.

[Tupelo]

It has been both my pleasure and honor to go to Sacatan, Arizona and see the park with the life sized statue of Ira Hayes, the Pima Indian who was the outside man raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.
The small town has a park named for Hayes and another of their sons (also a Pima) who was killed in WW l. I think the park and statues choked me up more than the Marine Corp memorial in Washington did. The park is absolutely spotless and very well maintained. Don't forget Sacatan is extremely small and very poor. Like all reservations.
I may be wrong but I think the other man depicted in the park was the first American killed in WW-l. I am ashamed to say I do not remember his name.

[sergeantdave]

A friend in the MCL was with the 28th Marines on Iwo Jima. Out of 31 snipers in his unit, 30 were wounded or killed. He took a bullet in his leg, causing pain and health problems the rest of his life, that eventually killed him. He won’t be listed as KIA, but he was, some 58 years later.

God bless these warriors. RIP, Marine.

[Verginius Rufus]

This afternoon C-SPAN was replaying an interview with James Bradley, author of Flags of our Fathers and son of one of the three flagraisers who survived the battle.

The actual flagraising on Mount Suribachi was on Feb. 23.

[gunnyg]

(“Three of us actually raised the flag–Lieutenant Harold G. Schrier, our company executive officer, Sergeant H.O. Hansen of Boston, and myself. “)

Gunny G’s….The Flag Raisings – Lest We Forget!

(“Three of us actually raised the flag–Lieutenant Harold G. Schrier, our company executive officer, Sergeant H.O. Hansen of Boston, and myself. “)

Gunny G’s….The Flag Raisings – Lest We Forget!

http://gunnyg.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/gunny-gs-the-flag-raisings-lest-we-forget/
*****

[gunnyg]

[fortheDeclaration]

Amen and amen!

[Marine_Uncle]

Born in 1946. I stand at attention and salute them all. The horrors that had to be surmounted, the bravery like in so many Pacific Battles as well as European by all our military forces across the board....
Then those God felt fit to survive moved on. And helped make this country the greatest nation on earth through hard work and brains.
Tens of millions of us now considered old, older... and so many more of younger age. We don't forget the sacrifices our men and women made and make in service to their country. Especially those that went through the horrors of combat first hand.
Last post I respond to this early morning in my neck of the woods, do have a great upcoming day.

[USNBandit]

I don't know whether you would classify it as geothermal or volcanic, but it all smells like sulfur. The crater on Suribachi isn't at the top, it on the WNW side and it puts off vapor constantly. That seems to be the main source, but there are other vents around the island.

Pretty nasty place. Scorpions, centipedes, thick brush. The south and west sides have beaches. The west beach looks flatter, but is really small. The south beach runs the whole length of the island, is steep, and made of coarse, black, volcanic sand. If you run your fingers through it you still come up with metal fragments. Rocky shorelines on the north and east and bad currents all the way around.

[gunnyg]

Gunny G:
Ray Jacobs and the eye-witness accoount of the first Iwo
flag raising...

http://gunnyg.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/ray-jacobs-%E2%80%9C-that%E2%80%99s-when-i-discovered-dick-gaines%E2%80%99s-gunny-g-web-site-dick-uses-lowery%E2%80%99s-classic-picture-of-the-first-flag-raising-on-his-home-page-i-e-mailed-him-that/
*****

[lbryce]

I stand at attention and salute them all.Thank you very much for your comments. I wholeheartedly share your thoughts, sentiments, each and every word.

[MountainYankee]

AMEN !