Iwo Jima

The Marine invasion team assigned to Iwo Jima was superb; twenty-two would win the Medal of Honor, the highest award for valor. They had met and mastered every battle problem along their way, from the jungles, past the bloody reefs, to the mountains.But Iwo Jima was different. It had no jungles, no coral reefs, no mountains; it was nothing but a stone fortress set out in the sea. Soon it would be the grave for over 5,000 leathernecks and 20,000 Japanese defenders. When they made the initial amphibious assault, the Marines thought that, if they were lucky, they could close quickly and kill the defenders. Command hoped to do the job in two weeks. It took five weeks – and the lives of many brave men. And all the valor the Marine Corps could muster.