Yesterday was the 80th Anniversary of the battle for Iwo Jima

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Battle of Iwo Jima: 80 Years Later, Lessons Learned

The Battle of Iwo Jima was difficult and strategically important, putting U.S. heavy bombers in range of mainland Japan.

www.defense.gov

Battle of Iwo Jima | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

In 1945, US forces bounded forward in the Central Pacific as combat reached ever bloodier crescendos.

www.nationalww2museum.org

The Information: Rubber Map

In this section: The planning of the Iwo Jima invasion, and the hidden factors that took the Americans by surprise.

www.pacificwarmuseum.org

Captain Joseph J. McCarthy's Medal of Honor | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

In the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history, 27 Marines and sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor for action on Iwo Jima. No other campaign surpassed that number.

www.nationalww2museum.org

//General McCarthy Ret. Dec. (then Capt.) was a friend of my father (along with Col. Bill Barber who received the Silver Star on Iwo and CMoH at Tok Tong Pass in Korea)...//

 

[Mas-sa-suta]

Battle of Iwo Jima: 80 Years Later, Lessons Learned

The Battle of Iwo Jima was difficult and strategically important, putting U.S. heavy bombers in range of mainland Japan.

www.defense.gov

Battle of Iwo Jima | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

In 1945, US forces bounded forward in the Central Pacific as combat reached ever bloodier crescendos.

www.nationalww2museum.org

The Information: Rubber Map

In this section: The planning of the Iwo Jima invasion, and the hidden factors that took the Americans by surprise.

www.pacificwarmuseum.org

Captain Joseph J. McCarthy's Medal of Honor | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

In the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history, 27 Marines and sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor for action on Iwo Jima. No other campaign surpassed that number.

www.nationalww2museum.org

//General McCarthy Ret. Dec. (then Capt.) was a friend of my father (along with Col. Bill Barber who received the Silver Star on Iwo and CMoH at Tok Tong Pass in Korea)...//

I saw some bits of intense stuff...the Iwo Jima deal gives me chills....my Regiment had three CMOH winners, one survived.

 

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I saw some bits of intense stuff...the Iwo Jima deal gives me chills....my Regiment had three CMOH winners, one survived.

Having met Bill Barber (that's how our family spoke of him) and seen photos and heard stories about Gen. McCarthy from dad as a child I became a life long history buff...

The interesting thing there was that dad was in an outfit with an NCO who became another recipient at the Chosin Reservoir (posthumously)... They weren't close though...

I found it even more interesting that my father (USMC Mustang) once told me that the military (can't recall if it was all services or just USMC) did a study that said that only about 1 in 7 received the meritorious recognition they deserved due to a variety of circumstances such as: witnesses deceased, paperwork went unfiled, paperwork lost, etc...

He had another friend who deserved, at minimum, a Navy Cross, but never received it even though he was put in for it (probably because [as the story goes] he slugged a Navy Doctor while forcing his way off a ship being used for casualty collection and found a way back to his unit... Upon rejoining them he was credited with taking out two J. machinegun nests singlehandedly that were tearing up his unit...He was later killed on Iwo...

Of course I was terribly impressed with my own father's exploits too... but could only imagine most of them based on his ribbon bars... (didn't get much of anything out of him other than: "It was Rough").