| |
KF5JRV > TODAY 23.02.19 14:25l 67 Lines 3436 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 31683_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Feb 23
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<I0OJJ<EA2RCF<LU9DCE<LU3DVN<N3HYM<KF5JRV
Sent: 190223/1223Z 31683@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
During the bloody Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines from the 3rd
Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Regiment of the 5th Division
take the crest of Mount Suribachi, the island’s highest peak and most
strategic position, and raise the U.S. flag. Marine photographer Louis
Lowery was with them and recorded the event. American soldiers fighting
for control of Suribachi’s slopes cheered the raising of the flag, and
several hours later more Marines headed up to the crest with a larger
flag. Joe Rosenthal, a photographer with the Associated Press, met them
along the way and recorded the raising of the second flag along with a
Marine still photographer and a motion-picture cameraman.
Rosenthal took three photographs atop Suribachi. The first, which showed
five Marines and one Navy corpsman struggling to hoist the heavy flag
pole, became the most reproduced photograph in history and won him a
Pulitzer Prize. The accompanying motion-picture footage attests to the
fact that the picture was not posed. Of the other two photos, the second
was similar to the first but less affecting, and the third was a group
picture of 18 soldiers smiling and waving for the camera. Many of these
men, including three of the six soldiers seen raising the flag in the
famous Rosenthal photo, were killed before the conclusion of the Battle
for Iwo Jima in late March.
In early 1945, U.S. military command sought to gain control of the
island of Iwo Jima in advance of the projected aerial campaign against
the Japanese home islands. Iwo Jima, a tiny volcanic island located in
the Pacific about 700 miles southeast of Japan, was to be a base for
fighter aircraft and an emergency-landing site for bombers. On February
19, 1945, after three days of heavy naval and aerial bombardment, the
first wave of U.S. Marines stormed onto Iwo Jima’s inhospitable shores.
The Japanese garrison on the island numbered 22,000 heavily entrenched
men. Their commander, General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, had been expecting
an Allied invasion for months and used the time wisely to construct an
intricate and deadly system of underground tunnels, fortifications, and
artillery that withstood the initial Allied bombardment. By the evening
of the first day, despite incessant mortar fire, 30,000 U.S. Marines
commanded by General Holland Smith managed to establish a solid
beachhead.
During the next few days, the Marines advanced inch by inch under heavy
fire from Japanese artillery and suffered suicidal charges from the
Japanese infantry. Many of the Japanese defenders were never seen and
remained underground manning artillery until they were blown apart by a
grenade or rocket, or incinerated by a flame thrower.
While Japanese kamikaze flyers slammed into the Allied naval fleet
around Iwo Jima, the Marines on the island continued their bloody
advance across the island, responding to Kuribayashi’s lethal defenses
with remarkable endurance. On February 23, the crest of 550-foot Mount
Suribachi was taken, and the next day the slopes of the extinct volcano
were secured.
By March 3, U.S. forces controlled all three airfields on the island,
and on March 26 the last Japanese defenders on Iwo Jima were wiped out.
Only 200 of the original 22,000 Japanese defenders were captured alive.
More than 6,000 Americans died taking Iwo Jima, and some 17,000 were
wounded.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
