A Brief History
On March 16, 1945, the battle for the island of Iwo Jima supposedly was won by the US, although fighting would continue for another two weeks. Famous as a heroic battle won by US Marines, Iwo Jima has history often overlooked.
Digging Deeper
While 22 Marines earned the Medal of Honor, another five US Navy sailors also earned this highest honor. Of the Navy Corpsmen that landed on Iwo Jima, 332 were killed and 659 wounded. The aircraft carrier USS Bismarck Sea was sunk, killing 318 of her crew, the last US carrier sunk in World War II (WWII).
The Japanese defenders of Iwo Jima were not short on courage, as out of 20,000 defenders a paltry 216 were taken prisoner, the rest dying in defense of the Japanese Empire.
The famous flag raising photograph of Marines on Mount Suribachi has ongoing controversy about which Marines and a single sailor actually appear in the photograph.
Bonus controversy: Iwo Jima was largely fought to provide a base for US fighter aircraft to escort B-29 bombers on flights to Japan, but in reality only about 10 such missions ever took place. B-29 bombers using Iwo Jima as an emergency landing field are often cited at having 24,000 lives of airmen saved, though this data is misleading and basically false. Additionally, the extreme lack of water on Iwo Jima means the garrison would likely have died of thirst if the US had just waited instead of invaded, especially if the above ground water cisterns had been deliberately targeted by naval gunfire.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Was Iwo Jima the most heroic battle of WWII?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Baker, Jonathan. Iwo Jima: The Unnecessary Battle. PN, 2011.
Bradley, James and Ron Powers. Flags of Our Fathers: Heroes of Iwo Jima. Delacorte Press, 2003.
The featured image in this article, a map by the US Army of World War II in the Pacific, is a work of a U.S. military or Department of Defense employee, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain in the United States.
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