Iwo Jima secured this day March 16, 1945

[whitehall]

Admiral Nimitz said it best, "uncommon valor was a common virtue" on Iwo Jima.

 

[Sunni Man]

Actually, "Fighting John" considered himself a warrior. He served in the Army in the Philippines, and was known even to General MacArthur at the time as he was the Boxing Champion of the islands.

After Marines poured from landers and onto the beaches at Iwo Jima, Pvt. Chuck Tatum and his unit pushed ahead to Motoyama Airfield, where a mortar round killed Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone as he returned to Tatum's position with reinforcements. Tatum later wrote about his experiences on Iwo Jima. His memoir, "Red Blood, Black Sand," was used as a reference for the HBO miniseries "The Pacific,"
(He has Parkinson's disease so he moves around a lot during the interview)

 

[whitehall]

The best seller "Flags of our Fathers" was based on the legitimate heroics of a Navy Corpsman who was a part of the Flag raising bond drive promotion but investigations revealed that he wasn't an actual Flag raiser. It really doesn't matter but it indicates the extent and value of propaganda to skew the truth and the desperation of the Bond Drive to fund the war.