Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

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forming ring-shaped islands. Next was Iwo Jima (Feb. 19, 1945), fol- Geologically younger volcanic is- lowed by Okinawa in the Ryukyu Island lands are often interspersed with the atolls, chain (April 1, 1945). and the volcanic cones often have steep, Maj. Gen. Harry Schmidt’s Fifth Ma- eroded (gulleyed) slopes. Many volcanic rine Amphibious Corps landed on the rocks weather into fairly good soils for volcanic island of Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, agriculture, but they are quite porous. 1945, and ultimately included 60,000 Al- Rainwater percolates through porous soils lied troops. They faced 21,000 Japanese as it does with beach sand, making it soldiers who had dug-in on the island. An difficult to find dependable sources of intricate set of tunnels and bunkers exca- drinking water on many volcanic islands, vated in the volcanic rock enabled them and particularly on atolls. to withstand Allied bombing for months RAISING THE In 1942, three years before U.S. Ma- preceding the invasion. By the end of the rines invaded Iwo Jima, Lt. Col. Jimmy battle on March 16, 1945, more than 20,000 FLAG ON Doolittle’s 16 B-25s took off from an air- Japanese and 6,821 Americans had died craft carrier 650 miles east of Japan and (19,217 were wounded). IWO JIMA bombed Tokyo. Fifteen of the planes ran The Americans immediately com- A recent book, Flags of Our Fathers out of fuel and crashed, but the shock mandeered the Japanese airstrips on the by James Bradley (Bantam Books, 2000), value of the bombing on the Japanese island to protect the bombers flying from follows the paths of the six young men made it clear to the Allies that bombing of Saipan to bomb Japan. Five months later, who raised the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima’s the “homeland” would speed the defeat the Japanese surrendered. Mount Suribachi in 1945. The photograph of the Japanese. This lesson, among oth- As a footnote to the battle for Iwo of the flag-raising event is one of the ers, made it clear that the Allies had to Jima, on Feb. 23, 1945, four days after the world’s most recognizable World War II secure landing strips and runways close invasion began, the Marines fought their images. Bradley’s book has to Japan. way up the rugged slope of Mount received accolades from re- Suribachi and planted the American flag. Joe viewers nationwide. Iwo Jima Although Americans Rosenthal of the Associ- older than 65 may remem- Mt. ated Press snapped the Tokyo Suribachi ber Iwo Jima from the front famous Pulitzer Prize pages of newspapers in winning photograph of 1945, many students today Japan a second flag being have little knowledge of the raised by six young men. Okinawa geopolitical importance of Pacific This photo became a ral- this tiny island in the Pa- lying point for the war cific Theater of World War Ocean effort, and a statue of the II. Kwajalein Atoll flag raising stands today Iwo Jima (E-woe GEE- Saipan across the Potomac from Washington, D.C. ma) is a small volcanic is- Tinian land about 750 miles (1,207 Three of the young soldiers who raised the km.) south-southeast of Ja- Tarawa flag subsequently died pan. With only an eight 0 600 mi Atoll square mile area (21 sq. New in action and two sur- km.), the island is about five Guam Guinea 0 600 km ©2001 vived the war only to die maps.com miles long and less than Geography in the News 08/10/01 as broken men. Only one three miles wide (8 by 5 km). of the six lived a reason- Although many of the western Pacific The strategy was to give U.S. bomb- ably normal life, although he refused to islands are low coral atolls, Iwo Jima is a ers short-distance bombing access to To- talk about his military experiences. He volcanic island. Mount Suribachi, a promi- kyo and the Japanese industrial heart- was author James Bradley’s father. Flags nent volcanic mountain (548 ft, or 167 m., land, sever Japan’s ocean transportation of Our Fathers follows the lives of these in elevation), stands on the island’s south links to its far-flung empire, and remove heros. end. Japan’s own air support bases scattered In 1969, the U.S. returned the island Most of the islands of the western among the Pacific islands. of Iwo Jima to Japan. No one lives there Pacific Ocean are really the tops of under- Prior to the invasion of Iwo Jima, an permanently today and the island stands sea volcanic mountain ranges. Even the island-hopping strategy in the central as a memorial to those who died on both low coral atolls are eroded volcanic moun- Pacific had moved Allied forces ever closer sides in this famous battle for a remote tains whose original shorelines are out- to Japan. Famous battles in the central volcanic island in the Pacific. lined in coral from reefs built up around Pacific included Tarawa in the Gilbert And that is Geography in the News, the islands. These narrow coral remnants Island chain (Nov. 20, 1943), Kwajalein August 10, 2001. #584. (KWAH-ja-LEAN) in the Marshall Island usually encircle shallow lagoons where (The author is a Professor of Geography chain (Jan. 31, 1944), and Saipan and Guam the eroded volcanic cones once stood, at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.) in the Mariana Islands (June 15, 1944).