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RE: Iwo Jima pictures

brad kaste said:
Most of these pictures I've need seen before. As one can observe,...conditions were horrific for the Marines and the pilots that had to fly off and land from Iwo.:salute:

http://picasaweb.google.com/7thfighter/IwoJima?authkey=Gv1sRgCIW06db_6oth&feat=email#slideshow/5299163150448181842
Click to expand...

My dad served on Iwo Jima. He talked about how the Japanese soldiers hid in caves and they had to root them out, often with flame throwers. He had some lenses and prisms from a pair Japanese binoculars that were burnt by a flam thrower.
 
brad kaste said:
Most of these pictures I've need seen before. As one can observe,...conditions were horrific for the Marines and the pilots that had to fly off and land from Iwo.:salute:

http://picasaweb.google.com/7thfighter/IwoJima?authkey=Gv1sRgCIW06db_6oth&feat=email#slideshow/5299163150448181842
Click to expand...

A footnote you might find interesting, shortly after WWII we built a Loran station on Iwo Jima. I don't remember when we finally turned the duties of maintaining the station over to the Japanese but I visited the station/island twice in the late eighties.

It was very interesting in that the Island was shared by a U.S. Coast Guard station and a Japanese station. The two groups had a constant friendly relationship. Several of us were taken for a long hike up Mount Suribachi by one of the Japanese who lost a brother there.

The ravages of the fighting were still fairly evident, remnants here and there but I don't think any of us had the temptation to dishonor the sanctions of disturbing or removing anything. Sitting on the side of Suribachi, looking out over the island (the sulfur odor takes a while to get used to) and sharing warm water with an ex-Japanese sailor was an interesting experience.

Somewhere, in one of many boxes, I've got some photos from both visits.
 
My father served on Iwo with the 90th Seabees. I'll have to show him some of these pictures. He told me about the last banzi charge; fasinating tale.:salute:
 
jim said:
My father served on Iwo with the 90th Seabees. I'll have to show him some of these pictures. He told me about the last banzi charge; fasinating tale.:salute:
Click to expand...

Hi Jim ,

My father served on Iwo Jima with the 3rd Marine Division . I remember him telling me about the banzi charges too . They would be standing in a chow line and occassionally puffs of sand would fly up in the air from Japanese snipers . The story that really stood out that I will never forget is when he and a few other Marines walked by the body of John Basilone(Medal Of Honor winner) on Guadacanal being guarded by a Honor Guard . They saluted as you would with a MOH winner out of respect and honor . He didn't even have to serve on Iwo . Story here ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Basilone
My Dad was also there when the 1st B29 landed and watched many P51's ground loop into the banks of sand .

Rich:salute:
 
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