Thanks for sharing. Paul via phone
> On Feb 23, 2016, at 10:09 AM, Daniel J. Matyola <[email protected]> wrote: > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima#/media/File:WW2_Iwo_Jima_flag_raising.jpg > > FEB23 -- THIS DAY IN HISTORY > > > 1945: U.S. flag raised on Iwo Jima > > During the bloody Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines from the 3rd > Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Regiment of the 5th Division > take the crest of Mount Suribachi, the island’s highest peak and most > strategic position, and raise the U.S. flag. Marine photographer Louis > Lowery was with them and recorded the event. American soldiers > fighting for control of Suribachi’s slopes cheered the raising of the > flag, and several hours later more Marines headed up to the crest with > a larger flag. Joe Rosenthal, a photographer with the Associated > Press, met them along the way and recorded the raising of the second > flag along with a Marine still photographer and a motion-picture > cameraman. > > Rosenthal took three photographs atop Suribachi. The first, which > showed five Marines and one Navy corpsman struggling to hoist the > heavy flag pole, became the most reproduced photograph in history and > won him a Pulitzer Prize. The accompanying motion-picture footage > attests to the fact that the picture was not posed. Of the other two > photos, the second was similar to the first but less affecting, and > the third was a group picture of 18 soldiers smiling and waving for > the camera. Many of these men, including three of the six soldiers > seen raising the flag in the famous Rosenthal photo, were killed > before the conclusion of the Battle for Iwo Jima in late March. > > In early 1945, U.S. military command sought to gain control of the > island of Iwo Jima in advance of the projected aerial campaign against > the Japanese home islands. Iwo Jima, a tiny volcanic island located in > the Pacific about 700 miles southeast of Japan, was to be a base for > fighter aircraft and an emergency-landing site for bombers. On > February 19, 1945, after three days of heavy naval and aerial > bombardment, the first wave of U.S. Marines stormed onto Iwo Jima’s > inhospitable shores. > > The Japanese garrison on the island numbered 22,000 heavily entrenched > men. Their commander, General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, had been > expecting an Allied invasion for months and used the time wisely to > construct an intricate and deadly system of underground tunnels, > fortifications, and artillery that withstood the initial Allied > bombardment. By the evening of the first day, despite incessant mortar > fire, 30,000 U.S. Marines commanded by General Holland Smith managed > to establish a solid beachhead. > > During the next few days, the Marines advanced inch by inch under > heavy fire from Japanese artillery and suffered suicidal charges from > the Japanese infantry. Many of the Japanese defenders were never seen > and remained underground manning artillery until they were blown apart > by a grenade or rocket, or incinerated by a flame thrower. > > While Japanese kamikaze flyers slammed into the Allied naval fleet > around Iwo Jima, the Marines on the island continued their bloody > advance across the island, responding to Kuribayashi’s lethal defenses > with remarkable endurance. On February 23, the crest of 550-foot Mount > Suribachi was taken, and the next day the slopes of the extinct > volcano were secured. > > By March 3, U.S. forces controlled all three airfields on the island, > and on March 26 the last Japanese defenders on Iwo Jima were wiped > out. Only 200 of the original 22,000 Japanese defenders were captured > alive. More than 6,000 Americans died taking Iwo Jima, and some 17,000 > were wounded. > > Dan Matyola > http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
