A Little bit of History

I have always had a fascination with World War II. Maybe it's because my grandma and grandpa served our country during the war and that is how they met ~ in England. But beyond knowing that they were a part of it, the entire war fascinates me. I've read endless books about Hitler and the Nazis & what occured in Europe but I've hardly read anything on the war in the Pacific.

That is, until I recently finished reading Flags of our Fathers. What an amazing book. I had heard about the battle of Iwo Jima but I didn't know any of the details. The picture here is the famous picture of the flag raisers on Iwo Jima. The book is written by the son of one of the flagraisers who survived the war and went on to live a lengthy life. The father only spoke of the war once or twice to his family so his son spent years and years after his death doing research on the heroes of Iwo Jima & wrote about it.

Some information about Iwo Jima that I didn't realize:
The Enemy - Japan
1. The Japanese didn't fight above ground. They fought the battle entirely from beneath the ground. They dug 1,500 rooms into the rock. These were connected with 16 miles of tunnels. 21,000 defenders of Japanese soil, buried in the volcanic rock of Iwo Jima, anxiously awaited the American invaders.
2. Japanese strategy called for "no Japanese survivors." They planned not to survive.
3. Japanese strategy was for each soldier to kill 10 Americans before they themselves are killed.

The United States
1). No other island received a preliminary pounding as Iwo Jima. However, our ferocious bombardment had little effect since our enemy was all underground. Little did our marines know, but the Japanese were hardly touched by our pre-invasion efforts. They were in for quite a surprise when they landed on that island.
2). The US sent more Marines to Iwo than to any other battle, 110,000 Marines in 880 Ships. The convoy of 880 US Ships sailed from Hawaii to Iwo in 40 days.
3). The Marines rarely saw an alive Japanese soldier. The Japanese could see the Marines perfectly.
4). Easy Company is the company in which the flag raisers came from. They climbed Mount Suribachi and put the American Flag in Japanese soil. While this photo became famous in America during the war, the background behind the photo is fascinating.
5). More US Marines earned the Medal of Honor on Iwo Jima than in any other battle in US History. In 36 days of fighting there were 25,851 US casualties (1 in 3 were killed or wounded).

So, here's your history lesson of the day. :) I thouroughly enjoyed this book and if you're in to history, I definitely recommend it. The quote at the beginning of the book goes like this:

"The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know." - Harry Truman

There are so many events in history that I would love to read more about. Flags of our Fathers reminded me of how much I enjoy reading and learning about history. This book also gave me a new found respect for our Marines. I can't even begin to comprehend how they do what they do.