This piece was put out by the The National WWII Museum of New Orleans and was sent in by reader "Bob in Cullman". It is fairly long, but worth the read if you like this sort of history. The entire article is HERE.
This piece was put out by the The National WWII Museum of New Orleans and was sent in by reader "Bob in Cullman". It is fairly long, but worth the read if you like this sort of history. The entire article is HERE.
If Richard Frank, former Navy chief historian, is to be believed, Iwo was a mistake bigger than Tarawa and Peleliu. The idea it was needed as an emergency airfield was cooked up after the war to try to justify the horrific casualties, according to him.
ReplyDeleteYMMV, of course.
So "edutcher" and Richard Frank (whoever the hell he was) ... would rather that the US invade the Japanese homeland and have an estimated million American causalities instead?
Delete" On March 24, in a last-gasp effort, some 300 Japanese infiltrated into the Marine rear areas occupied by aircrew and logistics personnel, killing or wounding hundreds."
ReplyDeleteThis was a night time attack on the fighter pilots' bivouac area. These pilots were considered the highest value target on the island by the Japanese. There were about 125 pilots and about 15 were killed. My dad was one of the survivors. A week later the pilots were escorting B-29's over the Japanese home islands.
There is a new documentary out about the identity of the flag raisers. I for a long time have know there were two flag raisings. Saw the monument in high school, was very surprised how large it was
ReplyDeleteMy mother told me this story. A friend of my dads. Paralysed on his left side. Arm in a sling, brace on his leg. He was about 20 feet from where they raised the flag. Bullet in his forehead. After the battle a team was going through the aftermath. He was put on the dead pile. Someone saw him move and he was saved. Never talked about it. Didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, loved coffee.
ReplyDelete