Summary: Always Faithful, Always Forward

Iwo Jima was known for one of the most bloody battles in not just the Marine but American history too. The battle began on February 19, 1945 as part of the campaign of the Pacific theatre, and lasted for thirty-six days. Around twenty six-thousand Marines were wounded, which caused Union losses during the battle at Gettysburg. Near the beginning of summer of 1944, American B-29 bombers were ruining the islands. “Iwo Jima proved itself an indispensable asset to the Pacific command.” “Thousands of fighters took off from its runways, and this ‘stepping stone’ served as a staging ground for countless Allied advances.”

"Victory was never in doubt. Its cost was. What was in doubt was whether there would be any of us left to dedicate our cemetery at the end, or whether the last Marine would die knocking out the last Japanese gunner," Major General Graves Erskine, dedicating his 3rd Marine Division cemetery at Iwo Jima just after the battle.(Alexander 207)

What happened during this battle? The Japanese really practiced and prepared carefully for their attack on Pearl Harbor.

Although they failed miserably; in the brutal attempt they had made, the whole act was a learning process and if you look at it that way, it counts as a success. A huge lesson was learned being; it was not a bright idea to attack from the sea, especially when attacking a 'heavily defended post'. Including

Moreover, during an extensive struggle on the Morris island, a lot of numbers of torpedoes were being used by the rebels in defense of Fort Wagner. In one of the huge explosions, a corporal of the 3rd colored troops was thrown about 25 yards. “the dead soldier landed entirely naked, with arm resting on the plunger of another torpedo.”

The American forces plan consisted of a “divide and conquer” methodology. The U.S. focused on landing its assault force expediently and quickly and securing Mt. Suribachi and dominant high ground of the island. The Americans expected victory in less than a week. Their forces consisted of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions. The 4th and 5th Marine Divisions were to land on the eastern beaches the 4th on the right and the 5th on the left. The 3rd Marines would either land on the eastern beaches or assume a defensive role, which ever was called (Planning for the Battle of Iwo Jima, n.d.).

The Battle of Iwo Jima started on February 19 and lasted until March 26, 1945. It was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured the Island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The Japanese defenders of the island were dug into bunkers deeps within the volcanic rocks. Around 70,000 U.S Marines and 18,000 Japanese soldiers took part in this battle. In the thirty-six days of fighting on the island nearly 7,000 U.S Marines were killed. Another 20,000 were badly wounded. Marines captured 216 Japanese soldiers; the rest were killed in action. The island was finally declared secured on March 16, 1945. It had been one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history.

This disassociation allows for the whole sale slaughter of people with moral justification. The unforeseen byproduct of this disassociation, as Cameron points out, can be seen in the 1950’s and 1960’s, when many veterans consigned their wives to the kitchen. The intended product of this disassociation, however, was to kill Japanese soldiers. The Marines would reap the benefits of this first in the Guadalcanal campaign of 1942. With the U.S. Marines of First Division engaged in a life or death struggle against their Japanese opponents, the cartoonish portraits of four-eyed, slow Japanese soldiers burned into the American Marine’s mind kept them from thinking about the enemy as men who are carrying pictures of their families eerily similar to the pictures that were carried by Americans. Using the invasion of Peleliu as a backdrop for his analysis, Cameron expands upon his analysis of the individual Marine to the collective thought of the organization. The U.S. Marine self-image caused Marine units on Peleliu to charge head-first into the waiting Japanese defense with foolhardy, head on assaults which they stubbornly pressed. The Marine Corps, even through their hyper-masculine indoctrination, had not prepared their Marines any better than their U.S. Army counterparts on the island. Before Peleliu, the perception of combat had been that of a clean affair due to the romanticized images of World War I. After, due to Tom Lea’s reporting of events, the

Next, Marco and his squad went into one of the houses to kill the insurgents. They cleared the house. Behind that house was a guesthouse. There were five terrorists in the guesthouse. There were a few palm trees too. Marco ran behind one of the palm trees for cover. The other marines of his squad were behind a narrow wall. Marco found a RPG on his way running for cover behind the palm tree. He picked it up and tried to fire it at the enemy, but the RPG didn’t work. Marco then figured out the RPG had a dual trigger system. He figured it out, and fired it. Marco killed the insurgents and earned the Navy Cross.

According to HistoryNet (1948) Marine Corps General William H. Rupertus commanded the 1st Marine Division in the assault against Axis forces, specifically the Japanese and their commander, Colonel Kunio Nakagawa. More than 35,000 service members (27,000 Americans and 11,000 Japanese) were engaged in this significant battle of World War II. Of those troops, The United States lost more than one-third of their defense (9800), whereas more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers were killed and 200 were captured. Research by Gypton (2004) identified that the 1st Marine Division, comprised of the 1st, 5th and 7th Marine Regiment (MR), landed in their strategically placed locations on the island of Peleliu on the morning of September 15th, 1944. Troops moved onto the island in waves as they received cover fire from naval vessels and aerial strikes.

Before their attack on Midway Island, the Japanese had to take over Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in early May of 1942. Yamamoto planned the Battle of the Coral Sea with hopes of gaining new islands in the Pacific Ocean that would aid the Japanese during its attack on Midway

as the overall Commander. The mission was tasked to the 1st marine division out of North Carolina that was commanded by Major General Alexander Vandegrift. General Vandegrift received his orders to perform the amphibious assault on Guadalcanal on the 25th of June 1942. Immediately General Vandegrift realized many problems he would have to overcome. Originally he had not planned on deploying his unit into combat until the beginning of 1943. His unit was newly formed and spread between three different locations. To make matters worse the majority of his men had little to no combat experience. The majority of the equipment they possessed was

Brown led the Army’s 7th Division of three regiments of infantry, four battalions of artillery, the 13th Combat Engineer Battalion, and the attachment of the 50th Combat Engineer Battalion.1 Nearly a year before the battle took place, June 3rd, 1942, the Japanese seized Attu with only natives living there. The Japanese reestablished a base on Attu on October 29, 1942 under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Hiroshi Yanekawa.1 The Japanese set up strong defensive positions with antiaircraft and numerous caches of arms, ammunition and food spread across different locations on the island. U.S. forces did not have such advantage and had a difficult time with logistics due to the unforgiving elements. The islands beaches consisted of muskeg which created very difficult circumstances for U.S. vehicles that the engineers were crucial in resolving. Although the harsh climate and terrain caused many problems for both sides, it was more impactful against the Japanese due to the long period of acclimation they endured.2

Okinawa had trees that was littered on hills that had a reach of 505 meters high. This was advantage for the Japanese that was above the American troop. Japanese also used coral and limestone to blend in with the environment as a camouflage.They used the island’s natural obstacles and enhanced them , to throw their enemy off

Corporal Lewis Kenneth Bausell, along with other marines in the First Battalion, was posted to Peleliu. Peleliu was an island with a well-established control of the Japanese forces and yet the mission was undercover because of minor perceived threats by American intelligence. Corp. Bausell was a known marine even though he was new. The Japanese had a strict rule of never getting caught. Peleliu was loaded with well-armed and well-skilled Japanese army that was hidden away from view. Bausell detected the location of a nest and a flamethrower was used to draw the Japanese out. It turned out that the Japanese