Iwo jima where is

The day fight for Iwo Jima led Adm. Chester Nimitz to give the now-immortal praise, "Uncommon valor was a common virtue. The Japanese Empire controlled many islands in the Pacific area. Saipan, Peleliu and other islands were either sold to Japan after World War I or it was given control of them by the League of Nations. Then, it started invading others. Iwo Jima was different. Though technically far from the Japanese Home Islands, it is considered to be part of Tokyo and is administered as part of its subprefecture.

After three years of taking control of islands previously captured by the Japanese, the Marines were finally taking part of the Japanese capital. Taking the island meant more than a symbolic capture of the Japanese homeland. It meant the U. Now, the Army Air Forces would be able to make bombing runs without a Japanese garrison at Iwo Jima warning the mainland about the danger to come. It also meant American bombers could fly over Japan with fighter escorts.

Iwo Jima is a small island, covering roughly eight square miles. It was defended by 20, Japanese soldiers who spent a year digging in, creating miles of tunnels beneath the volcanic rock, and who were ready to fight to the last man. When the battle was over, 6, Americans were dead and a further 26, wounded or missing.

Instead, the Japanese stayed in caves and bunkers inland and waited for US forces to come to them. On 20 February, the marines attacked Mount Suribachi, a dormant volcano that dominated the southern end of the island.

Many of the Japanese gun positions around the foot of Suribachi had been destroyed by naval gunfire but on the mountain itself it was a different story. At each pillbox and bunker, the Japanese fought with extraordinary determination.

Eventually, after four days of non-stop combat, a small group of US marines reached the summit. In capturing Suribachi, marines had died, and it was not even the main defensive position on the island. It did, however, give rise to one of the most famous war photographs ever taken. When the marines reached the summit they set up a small US flag on a metal pole.

However, because the flag was too small to be easily seen the decision was taken to replace it with a larger one. A second patrol of marines climbed to the summit and as five of them, plus one navy corpsman, set up the second flag they were photographed by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press. His picture was an instant success and it won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography. Rosenthal did later admit to having staged a photograph but that was a group photo of marines posing around the flag once it had been set up.

Almost all of the 1, Japanese defenders were dead. Their code of war scorned surrender and most sold their lives dearly. Some were burned alive by flame throwers or torn apart by explosives thrown into their bunkers.

Many too badly wounded to fight on kept a grenade at hand, ready to detonate it when US forces came near. A small group of defenders managed to battle their way out and somehow made it to the main Japanese headquarters further north. The Japanese had to be rooted out of caves and other strongholds in merciless close-quarter assaults. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the Japanese commander on Iwo Jima, recognized that he could not defeat an American landing.

Instead, he planned a long and costly defensive battle to shake American resolve to continue the war and invade the Japanese mainland. The general placed weapons to rain deadly fire on the beaches, but concentrated his forces in the northern part of the island within underground bunkers and gun positions linked by miles of tunnels.

This deadly isolationist web of defenses exacted a terrible toll. US Marines immortalized the bloodiest battles on Iwo Jima with names depicting the brutal combat. The US landing forces suffered 6, killed and 19, wounded. Although most in the 20,strong Japanese garrison were draftees, they refused to surrender, fighting tenaciously until only a few hundred remained alive to be taken prisoner.

Celebration erupted when the first Marine patrol reached the summit of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima on February 23, , and raised a small American flag. A short while later, another detachment returned to the peak to replace the flag with a second, larger one. Parents spent hours waiting to grab the first COVID vaccination appointments for children ages 5 to 11 at the largest U. Twenty soldiers died during on-duty incidents during fiscal , according to an upcoming safety report.

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