quote:

Battle of Iwo Jima

In 1945, US forces bounded forward in the Central Pacific as combat reached ever bloodier crescendos.

U.S. Marines invaded Iwo Jima, a strategic air base located between the Mariana Islands and Japan, on February 19, 1945, after months of naval and air bombardment. Planners expected a brief campaign. But for over five weeks, Japanese forces mounted a fierce defense, turning the small volcanic island into a death trap for invading marines.

The Japanese had to be rooted out of caves and other strongholds in merciless close-quarter assaults. Approximately 70,000 U.S. Marines and 18,000 Japanese soldiers took part in the battle. In thirty-six days of fighting on the island, nearly 7,000 U.S. Marines were killed. Another 20,000 were wounded. Marines captured 216 Japanese soldiers; the rest were killed in action. The island was finally declared secure on March 26, 1945.

It had been one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history. The bloodbath horrified Allied military planners and American citizens, who feared a far greater slaughter during an invasion of Japan's home islands

SIGNIFICANCE OF IWO JIMA

The invasion of Iwo Jima, codenamed “Operation Detachment” aimed to achieve several objectives: remove the Japanese garrison that was providing early earning of B-29 Superfortress raids en route to Japan, eliminate the enemy airfields that allowed Japanese pilots to harass the Marianas, and establish the island as an emergency landing place for the U.S. Army Air Corps. Capturing Iwo Jima would also protect the right flank for a future American invasion of Okinawa and provide air fields to support long-range fighter escorts for bombing missions over the Japanese home islands. For such a small island, Iwo Jima held significant strategic importance.

DAUNTING JAPANESE DEFENSES

General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the Japanese commander on Iwo Jima, recognized that he could not defeat an American landing. Instead, he planned a long and costly defensive battle to shake American resolve to continue the war and invade the Japanese mainland. The general placed weapons to rain deadly fire on the beaches, but concentrated his forces in the northern part of the island within underground bunkers and gun positions linked by miles of tunnels. This deadly web of defenses exacted a terrible toll.

ESCALATING VIOLENCE

Marines immortalized the bloodiest battles on Iwo Jima with names depicting the brutal combat. These included "The Meat Grinder," where nearly 850 marines died capturing a Japanese stronghold, and "Bloody Gorge," where Japanese defenders made their final stand. The US landing forces suffered 6,821 killed and 19,217 wounded. Although most in the 20,000-strong Japanese garrison were draftees, they refused to surrender, fighting tenaciously until only a few hundred remained alive to be taken prisoner.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
He never talked about it…

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
He never talked about it…

Why do you think that was?

That’s a comment I very often see when a veteran’s wartime service is mentioned, and I always wonder what the reason was. I know why I have never talked much about my own career, and I have my own ideas about the reason(s) other veterans don’t, but I am curious about other’s perceptions.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
He never talked about it…

Why do you think that was?

quote:

Originally posted by sigmoid:

Seems those years growing up following WWII were a silent reminder of all the horrors of reality and people were decent.