Soldiers' Experience: "Iwo Jima was more than just a battle; it was actually a 36-day descent into hell. Hell on earth." Chuck Tatum member of the B Company, 1st Battalion of the 27th Marines. On the importance of Iwo Jima.
"So it became a very pivotal battle in the Pacific, and with Iwo Jima in our hands, we would control the bombing of Tokyo, which would culminate in the B-29 that dropped the bomb. That’s why we had to have Iwo Jima. Other than that it was useless. Eight miles of sulfur, volcanic ash." Chuck Tatum, B Company, 1st Battalion of the 27th Marines. On reasons why we needed Iwo Jima, why it was a necessary battle.
"Iwo Jima was not known to have the kind force it had there, we had real intensive air surveillance and battle ship, but nothing was ever shown. They couldn't see any people they didn't know there was 22,000 Japanese men underground." Randy James, Iwo Jima veteran, describing the initial decent onto Iwo Jima.
The soldiers experience in the battle was surprise and sadness. The soldiers expected the battle to be easy, the soldiers didn't even expect there to be people on the island besides them. The Japanese were underground in tunnels (shown above). The battle was the cause of many casualties and the cause of much sadness.
"So it became a very pivotal battle in the Pacific, and with Iwo Jima in our hands, we would control the bombing of Tokyo, which would culminate in the B-29 that dropped the bomb. That’s why we had to have Iwo Jima. Other than that it was useless. Eight miles of sulfur, volcanic ash." Chuck Tatum, B Company, 1st Battalion of the 27th Marines. On reasons why we needed Iwo Jima, why it was a necessary battle.
"Iwo Jima was not known to have the kind force it had there, we had real intensive air surveillance and battle ship, but nothing was ever shown. They couldn't see any people they didn't know there was 22,000 Japanese men underground." Randy James, Iwo Jima veteran, describing the initial decent onto Iwo Jima.
The soldiers experience in the battle was surprise and sadness. The soldiers expected the battle to be easy, the soldiers didn't even expect there to be people on the island besides them. The Japanese were underground in tunnels (shown above). The battle was the cause of many casualties and the cause of much sadness.