Iwo Jima 70 years later

Young people now just have to worry about whether they are wearing the right fashion or have the right haircut. I just can't imagine what it was like being a young person during that time (on either side), when you worry about whether you will be alive in the next few minutes.

Like USN Admiral Nimitz said, "Uncommon valor was a common virtue."

@ Five times: What are you going on about? Young people where? In Syria? Iraq? Colombia? Mexico? India? Where? Young people have the environment, job security, being blown up, beheaded, mugged, shot, stabbed, raped, attacked and a whole plethora of dangers, mishaps and misfortune to worry about, just as any generation has, did and will have. Stop the 'things are so easy now' mysticism please! They are not!

Let's hope it never happens again! Lest we forget!

Let's hope it never happens again! Lest we forget!

? The War has happened many times since then.

From: http://www.askmen.com/entertainment/special_feature_400/482b_the-battle-of-iwo-jima-5-things-you-didnt-know.html

5 little known facts about Iwo Jima,

The Battle of Iwo Jima was the costliest battle in U.S. Marine Corps. history. 6,000 Marines died in the fight.

Two Japanese soldiers didn’t surrender until 1949.

It wasn't shown in Letters from Iwo Jima or in Flags of Our Fathers, but Navajo code talkers were credited with winning the Battle of Iwo Jima.

The U.S. and then President Lyndon Johnson returned the island to Japan in 1968 when then Premier Eisaku Sato came to the US. Every year, veterans from both the U.S. and Japan return to the island for a reunion.

The Battle of Iwo Jima accounted for 1/3 of all Medal of Honor awards for U.S. Marines in WWII.

Here are some more facts:

The American public was so outraged about the casualties that there were demonstrations in Washington D.C. The public even then realized that there was no reason for the battle, since the island was blockaded. They could have simply left it there and gone around it.

There was no plan prior to the battle to use the island as a base for fighter escorts for bombers to-and-from Japan, nor was it so important as a waypoint for damaged bombers because air-sea rescue was mature and very few crews were lost while ditching. That "importance" as an air base idea was an afterthought to quell the demonstrations in the U.S.

A few escort flights were flown (P-51's) from Iwo Jima, but were soon stopped. The fighters didn't have the range to stay over any targets - they had to return immediately after reaching mainland Japan. The main problem was that pilots were unable to withstand the rigors of flying in the unpressurized cockpits for the long distance.

The battle is studied every year at the Naval Academy, and the same conclusions are reached year after year - the battle was a tactical and strategic blunder. Instead of courts martials, the USMC and Department of the Navy turned it into media propaganda that inspired millions of men to join the U.S. military.

The leaders of the invasion didn't follow the established doctrine that had developed during the years leading up to the battle for island invasions. The time and ordnance of off-shore bombardment was less than 1/3 of doctrine, and there were Congressional calls in Washington for courts martials of the commanders.

@darnname.

The battle "MIDWAY" did not really go according to plan (if a plan at all). But yet, the japanese defeat @ Midway proved to be a key turning point in the war for America.

Doctrine? There were no real established amphibous assault doctrine. The entrenched enemy dictated your strategy.

Must have been horrible, all around, and a pretty mixed bag to go and visit the place again, but kudos to the Americans and Japanese who did and continue to do so. Let them keep working hard to ensure this nation does not take up arms again and help other nations work with it so that they don't need to try. A telling, albeit touching, monument.

Iwo Jima 70 years later.......

Iwo Jima, it was a moment in time that showed the beauty of humanity, the insanity of humanity, the incredible realistic view of wrongful thinking and the insanity of fanaticism. I wish that I could spend ten minute with the men that were willing to give their lives for a lost cause.........I bow before all those people that gave their lives for what they believed.....

Now, let us bring this to the here and now.....What is the difference?

Easy answer, people are more educated than they were back in 1939, 40, 41. 42. 43. 44. 45.......the Emperor of Japan is really a man and not a god.......

Those who perished should be honored because this was a straight military battle, the first nominally on Japanese national territory. General Kuribayashi and his soldiers acquitted themselves with courage and tenacity, while the Marines did make uncommon valor common and widespread within their ranks.

It would only be later, most obviously in Okinawa, that the Japanese military commanders would seek mass sacrifices of civilians in their fanaticism. In the case of Iwo Jima, there was honor on both sides even if victory could only belong to one.

good documantary on youtube, "Iwo Jima - 36 Days of Hell"

@UK This is Japan Today, and we are in Japan talking about an event of WWII. I was only talking about Japanese people. My sympathy to the others you talk about, of course.