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 Post subject: 23Feb1945
PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2016 12:28 pm 
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Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14778
Location: CT
71 years ago today, on 23Feb45, a handful of US Marines raised a 48-star US flag on a 528-ft inactive volcano on a small flat north Pacific island named Iwo Jima ("Io-To" in Japanese). The picture of that flag raising became the most-famous and iconic image of US war effort in WWII.

About 77,000 Marines from the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions converged on this tiny 8-square-mile isolated island (which was about the size of Manhattan), determined to force the Japanese defenders to surrender it. They estimated there were perhaps 10,000 Imperial Japanese Army and Navy troops on the island and it would take about three days to capture "Sulphur Island".

In fact there were about 21,000 Japanese and a contingent of 1,000 Korean slaves waiting for the Marines, and it would take 36 days to capture the island. The defender, Japanese general Tadamichi Kuribyashi, knew he could not hold Iwo Jima against the Marines. A Samurai decendent who had lived in the USA, spoke perfect English and had never been defeated in battle during his lifelong military career, Kuribyashi told Emperor Hirohito, "If America sends their army against Io-To, I can hold it. But if she sends her Marines, we will lose". He offered to blow the whole island of Iwo Jima off the map, to sink it below the waterline, so the Americans could not use it for an airbase to attack Tokyo from. But by that time of the war, Japan no longer had enough munitions left to do that.

Kuribyashi told his men they must all die on the island. They collected all their money together and sent it home to the Emperor, asking him to include it in the general treasury since they had no further use of it. They were prepared to die to a man. Kuribyashi ordered each man to "kill 10 Marines before you die", and they swore to do that. They hoped that by making Iwo Jima so horribly costly to the USA, maybe the US would hesitate to attack the Japanese mainland for fear of losing millions of lives. The Japanese dug more than 12 miles of underground interconnecting tunnels on the tiny island, until each and every pillbox or machinegun nest or bunker or hospital or supply room was connected with every other location on the island. Marines could spend hours (and many lives) defeating one pillbox with a machine gun in it, only to rush past it and be shot in the back by more Japanese who rushed in, unseen, to reoccupy it and resume fighting. The whole island was a huge human 'ant farm'. The 22,000 defenders weren't ON Iwo, they were IN Iwo.

American ships and planes had bombed and shelled Iwo Jima for months in preparation for the invasion. In fact they killed very few Japanese, who were simply living underground, impervious to the destruction above. It was, at that time, the heaviest concentration of artillery in the history of mankind. But it did little.

On Mon/19Feb45, the Marines stormed ashore. 2,000 Marines died on the black sand beach during the first two days, more than had been killed in most other Pacific battles. Incredible acts of bravery and futility were recorded wherever one looked. It became (and remains) the very worst, bloodiest battle the US Marine Corps has ever fought in it's 240-year history. Japanese machine-guns and artillery had every square yard of the island registered; they could rain lead and steel onto any exact location on the island by request. The Marines had little cover on the devastated island.

On Friday/23Feb45, the 5th day of the battle, a handful of Marines managed to climb to the top of Mount Suribachi, the island's tallest peak. They took a small US flag with them and raised it for all the island to see. It was the first foreign flag forcefully planted on Japanese soil in more than 400 years. Morale soared among Marines and sailors who could see it, but it was only the size of a tabletop so a larger, second flag was sent ashore from one of the ships in the harbor. Since all the celebration and noise had taken place during the raising of the first flag, hardly anyone noticed the second one replacing it.

But AP War correspondent Joe Rosenthal got a single snapshot and US Marine war correspondent Sgt Bill Genaust took an 8-second color movie of the second flag raising ( https://youtu.be/M8DwC_CQ9fg ). Rosenthal's picture became world-famous. Ten years later, the world's largest bronze sculpture was made of that photograph when sculptor Felix de Weldon created the US Marine Corps' War Memorial in Arlington Virginia. Commonly called the "Washington Iwo Jima Monument", it is well known to all DC visitors and sightseers.

The battle raged on 36 days to 27Mar45, when Iwo was declared secure. Of the 21,000 Japanese defenders, effectively all were killed. Very few were captured alive, and most of those died of their wounds. Very very few surrendered voluntarily; most were Koreans captured after becoming unconscious or unable to fight further. A handful were left underground to starve there. Nearly four years later (Jan49), the final two Iwo Jima Japanese soldiers crawled out of the tunnels and surrendered to the amazed US Army soldiers stationed there. They were well-fed, properly uniformed and surrendered completely functional weapons.

More than 6,851 US Marines were killed on Iwo Jima (100 from CT) and more than 19,000 were wounded. Our 26,000 casualties exceeded the 22,000 KIA/WIA/POW of the defenders. Iwo became the first and only battle wherein the victors (us) suffered more casualties than the defenders (Japanese and Koreans) and still won.

To put Iwo into perspective with the rest of WWII, one-third of all US Marines killed during the war, died on Iwo Jima. As Secretary of the Navy later said of the Marines who took Iwo Jima, "Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue".

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Last edited by Frank T on Tue Feb 23, 2016 9:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: 23Feb1945
PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2016 2:34 pm 
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Joined: Fri Dec 25, 2015 7:39 pm
Posts: 697
Location: Long Island, N.Y.
Thank you Marines for your ultimate sacrifice. God Bless you all.

Semper Fidelis.

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 Post subject: Re: 23Feb1945
PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2016 3:44 pm 
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Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 2:33 pm
Posts: 349
Location: Richardson, Texas
Frank,
Thank you for this tribute. Its important that these battles for our freedom not only be remembered but also that they be told as you have so eloquently done. My uncle fought in the islands - perhaps Iwo or Guadalcanal, but I was very young man the last time I saw him and it was never a topic of conversation. It also helps me remember my great uncle who volunteered for the Marines prior to our entry into WWI, served in Europe and was gassed. After his discharge, he joined the Army Air Corps and returned to Europe for post-war duties.

There will always be those who place themselves in harms way for the rest of us and sadly, there will always be some who make the ultimate sacrifice. May we never forget them and what they have done for us.

Semper Fi good buddy.

Jim

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Jim Arnett
Richardson, Texas
HLS30-15320 12/1970 (original owner)
ZCON 2015 Gold Cup - Street Modified class


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