Iwo Jima is a volcanic island 660 miles from Tokyo, Japan dominated by Mt. Suribachi. The reason the U.S. wanted the island was for its airfield.  It needed an emergency landing strip for B-29s and for launching fighter escorts.  Navy and Marine ships and aircraft shelled the island for weeks.

 

    The 4^th and 5^th Marine Divisions landed from the sea on February 19, 1945. In the morning, ships dropped off the first of the amtracks* carrying about twenty Marines each. As they came ashore, it was silent. Had the Japanese abandoned Iwo? Suddenly the silence was shattered by machine guns, mortars, and artillery.

 

    Led by General Kuribayashi, the Japanese hid underground in the many caves, pillboxes* and tunnels they had made on Iwo Jima.  Many of the hidden Japanese wanted to destroy the slow moving vehicles. But if they fired, it would expose their position. Instead they would wait for the Marines to clump up on the small beachhead and then open fire.

 

    The Marines desperately tried to hide behind anything. But there was no shelter on Iwo Jima. Tanks were sent, but they were useless in the deep volcanic sand and ash.  The Marines realized they could not hide from the fire.  They had to take it out.  They advanced in small groups on the many fortified positions.  Whenever the Marines arrived at a pillbox, they would torch it with a flamethrower, then throw in explosives.  The Japanese fought to the death.   This made it very tough for the Marines.

 

    At dawn the following day, the Marines got a gift from the Japanese, a fox terrier (a type of dog). But in the dog's mouth was a grenade. The soldiers distracted the dog, got the grenade and disarmed it.  Meanwhile the Marines were advancing up the 550’ Mr. Suribachi.  Japanese who had run out of bullets tried to kill the Marines by rolling boulders downhill.  Others would attempt suicide attacks know as banzai* charges.

 

    On the 4^th day of the battle, a tired group of Marines made it to the top of Mt. Suribachi.  They had carried up a flag and soon it fluttered at the top, causing a brief roar of happiness among the Marines on the beach and the sailors at sea.  A larger flag was later raised.

 

    On the 16^th of March, victory was declared.  More than two thousand planes eventually used Iwo as an emergency landing field.  Five months later, B-29s dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki leading to Japan's surrender.  This avoided an invasion of the Japanese homeland which could have resulted in casualties in the millions.