Recounting the Story of The Battle of Iwo Jima

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Recommended: Analyzing history : World War II

There are countless depictions of The Battle of Iwo Jima from the standpoint of Veterans and military historians. All of which are vivid interpretations of how monumental this battle was for the Marine Corp and 1944 American moral. The Battle of Iwo Jima was the single most contested piece of land that the Marine Corp had ever fought. In fact, the Marines lost more soldiers in this battle than any other battle they had fought, in their 238-year history. It was tough terrain with an enemy instructed to, “Kill 10 Americans before you will be killed”. (Smith, Iwo Jima, 2008) Paying respect to the veterans, I will attempt to tell the story of the Battle of Iwo Jima. “We built strength among us. We strengthened each other. That’s how we survived”. (Smith, Iwo Jima, 2008)
A small volcanic island in the South Pacific, the eight square mile Iwo Jima sat between the Marianas Islands and Japan. The island held little significance for Japan, until they declared war on the United States of America. Iwo became a waypoint and airstrip for Japanese bombers and fighter planes. Japan utilized the island for fuel and rest while they were patrolling the Pacific Ocean close to mainland Japan. After the Americans decimated the forces of Japan in previous maritime battles, they sought to use Iwo Jima as a stepping-stone for the invasion of the mainland. America wanted the island so it could more efficiently conduct bombing raids prior to a full-fledged assault. American bombers would stage there attacks from here and if bombers were damaged they could fly back to the relative safety of an American occupied airstrip.
February 19, 1944 was 0 hour for the Marines, D Day. They did not know what awaited them on the island that morning. At 0900, ...

... middle of paper ...

... held on to until 1968 when the Johnson administration turned it back over to Japan. This is has become a sore subject for some Marines who fought and watched brothers die for a piece of rock. The Marine Corp veterans believe we should have kept it as a memorial to those who had paid the ultimate sacrifice. Japan has since built a memorial for all WWII veterans and continues to do investigations on the island.

Miller, K. (1960). The Navy Department. Library.com. Retrieved from 27 January 2014,
Battle for Iwo Jima: WWII Fact Sheet from, http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/battleiwojima.htm Prados, J. (1996). History.com. Retrieved January 27, 2014 from http://www.history.com/topics/battle-of-iwo-jima Smith, L. (2008). Iwo Jima, World War II Veterans Remember the Greatest Battle of the Pacific
Warren, J. (2008). The Lions of Iwo Jima

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