IGX

This 2001 DVD gives great detail about the two flag raising events on Iwo Jima.
It lists all the Marines involved and gives some details about their lives after the
event.

It is very interesting how one photograph became famous and the other did not.

If nothing else, the Former Marines on this board will probably enjoy viewing this DVD.

My dad was a Medic on Iwo Jima and several of the other islands in the South Pacific. It messed him up quite a bit but of course PTSD was unheard of then.

The Corpsman in the iconic photo seemed like a real hero to me.

He joined the Navy to avoid combat.

3/4s through Flags of our Fathers now. Fucking Hell!

DARTH wrote:3/4s through Flags of our Fathers now. Fucking Hell!

Iwo Jima-36 days Of Hell-Disc 1 gives the best picture of what the Marines and Navy Corpsmen faced in that battle.
The Japanese Commander did an amazing job preparing his men.

The Japs had a lot of time to prepare and they took full advantage of it.

Double post. Sorry Gents.

DARTH wrote:3/4s through Flags of our Fathers now. Fucking Hell!

Great book! Amazing that the author didn't even know about most of it until after his father died.

DikTracy6000 wrote:

DARTH wrote:3/4s through Flags of our Fathers now. Fucking Hell!

Great book! Amazing that the author didn't even know about most of it until after his father died.

How many people know that estimates Allied casualties for D-Day was roughly 10,000 while the Iwo Jima
battle had 25,000 American casualties. The Iwo Jima figures are for the entire campaign while it is unclear
if the D-Day figure is for one or many days.

Bob Wildes wrote:

DikTracy6000 wrote:

DARTH wrote:3/4s through Flags of our Fathers now. Fucking Hell!

Great book! Amazing that the author didn't even know about most of it until after his father died.

How many people know that estimates Allied casualties for D-Day was roughly 10,000 while the Iwo Jima
battle had 25,000 American casualties. The Iwo Jima figures are for the entire campaign while it is unclear
if the D-Day figure is for one or many days.

Yeah but for the most part the combat at the beaches of Normandy lasted a day I think.

Trooper Tirey's father was at both Normandy and Iwo Jima. He was a sailor who drove landing craft. Trooper told me his father never spoke more than a word or two about it until the night before he shipped off to West Point. When Trooper recited what his father told him, he had a mosr hallowed look than when he had described combat he was in himself. You get a sense that Trooper was in awe of what his father saw. Described how at Normandy in the mounring he dropped off troops at the beach on his first run and not a one of them made it to the beach, they were cut down that fast, and how the next load a few made it to the beach and were cut down " And dad said at a certain point of the day, more guys would get up and go forward and soon there was more of them than were getting cut down. Just run after run of dropping off men as if they were meat for a fucking grinder. As we know he described initial landings on Iwo jima to be a breeze and then everything just exploded and from that point on it was far worse than Normandy.

I was in a conversation about this with his sister on my facebook page when I posted about the death of lt. John Wells, who led the charge of Suribachi and lead the first flag party to the top.

I've long got that Iwo Jima is like the Alpha for Marines but after reading Flags and watching the doc you suggested and some other reading, I fucking REALLY get why Iwo Jima is such a big deal for the Marines.

They were both horrendous places for Marines and Sailors at Iwo jima and GIs, Tommies, Canucks and the
rest at D-Day.

Tough for the bad guys too. The Japs and Krauts.

Not taking a thing away from any of them, I appreciate all Western allied soldiers of that war, they all paid for my freedom and way of life. It's the ETO I have studied far more than the Pacific. Strange as the war against Germany was a 75% more or less Soviet victory, where as the Pacific was more of an American show, acknowledging the Brits, Indians, Aussies and Kiwis to be sure.

I have deep respect for the German soldier, fuck Nazi ideology but most of those guys gave fuck all about that. They fought for their Fatherland, their Komrades and their sense of honour. They were fine soldiers,well trained, equipt, lead and motivated, not suicidal peasant insects like most of the Japs.

It fills me with pride that my father's uncle and my children's maternal great grandfather fought them at the Bulge, because those two simple country boys helped beat the finest war machine to march since the Legions of Caesar and many of the men they fought at the Bulge were the same who tore ass through Russia, men who had fought at Kursk.


What so many people do not get though, is in our time, we might see a war even worse. The World is near do one. Those two country boys, who both came home with all their parts, their sanity and humanity with combat decorations and a drive to live good lives and give their children the best give me hope that with their blood in the veins of my 2 sons, might contribute to both of them coming home the same way if they see a true total war like their ancestors did in the 1940s.