Sands of Iwo Jima

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

Just watched it again.  I have watched a pile of DVDs about WWII in the Pacific recently and now understand the term "bullet rich environment".  Lots of combat footage expertly mixed in with the Hollywood scenes

 

I was stationed on Okinawa from March 1966 to August 1968...21 to23 years after the fighting and th eplace was still "hot" with unexploded munitions, riddled with battle damage, and lousy with battle souvenirs.

[Capt. R. Hugh Kidnme]

8 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

Just watched it again.  I have watched a pile of DVDs about WWII in the Pacific recently and now understand the term "bullet rich environment".  Lots of combat footage expertly mixed in with the Hollywood scenes

 

I was stationed on Okinawa from March 1966 to August 1968...21 to23 years after the fighting and th eplace was still "hot" with unexploded munitions, riddled with battle damage, and lousy with battle souvenirs.

Last year, at this time, we had the opportunity to visit our Son and his family, in the third year they were stationed on Okinawa. We walked Hacksaw Ridge, the Navy HQ Underground and the Shuri Line/Castle areas..........With your eyes closed, and a bit of imagination, you can visualize the action.  It is still haunting/moving to this day......

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

The movie, Flags of our Fathers, does a great job of telling what happened on Iwo Jima.

[watab kid]

the islands campaign was a brutal episode in history , i cant think of a single one that was easy to talker or without great cost , im glad there are those of us that still remember that cost , nothing in that war was easy , but a good many things came from it that made our lives better , sad so many of the generations that follow ours wont think as we do or remember ,   my father landed on saipan shortly after it was taken and the airfields were constructed , he talked extensively over my childhood of the costs to the marines to accomplish that , i was taught to respect every effort of every vet , but mostly learned of the pacific as a child  

[Stump Water]

19 hours ago, watab kid said:

the islands campaign was a brutal episode in history

 

Indeed.  For a glimpse into the brutality read James Bradley's other book Flyboys.

 

ETA link... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyboys:_A_True_Story_of_Courage

[PowderRiverCowboy]

Very Cool solemn place to visit . Went with Jack Lucas, Cpl Gene Gustad ,R Lee Ermey ,Code talker, and LGEN Snowden (Snowden was a company commander with the 23rd Marines during the capture of Roi-Namur during the Battle of Kwajalein, the capture of Saipan and the capture of Tinian. During the assault on Iwo Jima) 

 

[watab kid]

4 hours ago, Stump Water said:

 

Indeed.  For a glimpse into the brutality read James Bradley's other book Flyboys.

 

ETA link... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyboys:_A_True_Story_of_Courage

i shall read it , but i grew up with it , my father never stopped praising the marines for their service and ive known a  number of them that served in that capacity - most all dead now , but one particularly was an artist as well as fighter , he had sketches that he had done for yank and such , he shared some to view , he was on most of the well remembered invasion's including saipan [where my father ended up] and iwo jima , i knew him as an art professor at a local college but he was a marine first and a montanna cowboy before that ,