re: Iwo Jima Fun Fact

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One of the 6 flag raisers

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A sad fact is that 3 of the 6 flag raisers in the photo were killed-in-action on Iwo Jima within 2 weeks of the flag raising.

One of the three survivors, Pfc. Ira Hayes, was a Pima Indian who became famous for his participation in the flag raising. In 1949, he portrayed himself raising the flag in the movie Sands of Iwo Jima, starring John Wayne.

While he survived the war, PTSD affected him for years driving him to become an alcoholic which contributed to his cause of death in 1955 at 32 years of age.

Hayes' battle with alcohol was made famous by a song recorded and sung by Johnny Cash, "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," which contained the lyrics:

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Ira Hayes
Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinking Indian
Or the marine that went to war

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Ira Hayes in 1942

Article about Iwo Jima

Certainly not a casualty of WW 11 !

I was a wee lad living near Anderson Air force base in Guam when the last Japanese soldier surrendered there in January 1972.

Later there was the Philippines surrender.

My mom’s first cousin was killed on Iwo taking out a jap pillbox. He had already taken one out. Got the silver star and Purple Heart. Harrydale Hyde. 19 years old.

Marine Sergeant William "Bill" Genaust, who filmed the second flag-raising on Iwo Jima, was killed in action nine days later, on March 4, 1945. He was killed by enemy machine-gun fire while helping Marines secure a cave on the island.

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Iwo Jima

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Fun

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RickAstley

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gonna give you up

Coincidentally I've been reading a history of the 24th Marines in WWII and in the section on Iwo Jima it talks about the woeful state of combat replacements. There was such a shortage of infantry that the Marines were taking men trained in other MOS's and making infantrymen out of them, in some cases after spending considerable time and effort training them in highly technical fields. Others didn't have any training at all, other than six weeks of basic training. They were shipped directly from boot camp to Hawaii, then to Iwo Jima.

All these guys arrived in the days and weeks after the initial landings and were sent into the line to replace combat casualties. Many of them didn't live long enough for anyone in their new units to learn their names.

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Casualties count wounded.

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Tell that to the OP

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That's a literal carpet of bodies across the surface of the island.

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