This year marks the 70th anniversary of the invasion of IWO JIMA. The first wave of Marines hit the beach on 2-19-45 expecting the fight to take only ten days. That was not to be. It took a total of 36 days with 26,000 casualties including 6,800 dead. Some 70,000 Americans took part in the invasion with 21,000 Japanese defending almost to the last man. Only 1,083 were taken prisoner.
On the 23rd, four days after the first wave hit the beach, Lt. Greeley Wells carried the flag to the summit of Mt. Suribachi and planted it there. Then the word came that the Sec. of War wanted that flag as a memento, so another, larger was raised resulting in the famous Joe Rosenthal photo of the Flag Raising.
The island is now a Japanese Shrine and renamed Iwo To, "Sulfur Island" and a tourist attraction, having been returned to Japan in 1968. As Secretary Powell once said,"The only land we ever asked for was enough to bury our dead."
My blog will attempt to be a source of accurate information on any subject put forward. My approach to any question will come from the conservative, freedom loving,and Christian. My background includes history, medicine and military. Welcome!
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