MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Iwo Jima is eight square miles of volcanic ash, pumice and deep black sand. It is the hallowed ground of the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history, and the site of a chance photograph that still stirs the imagination and captures the valor of the Marines who fought six excruciating weeks to wrest the island from a determined Japanese army.
Iwo Jima is forever etched into the storied history of the United States Marines, where 6,821 were killed, 19,217 were wounded, and one-fourth of all World War II Medals of Honor were earned. “Among the Americans serving on Iwo island, uncommon valor was a common virtue,” said U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Chester Nimitz after the battle.
In the winter of 1945, the United States was taking the strategic bombing campaign to mainland Japan. Iwo Jima, more than 700 miles from Japan, was the halfway point from American bomber bases in the Marianas. It had a radar station from which warnings of approaching B-29s were flashed to the major cities, and it had airfields from which Japanese kamikazes were attacking American ships. Finally, crippled bombers trying to return to bases on Saipan, Tinian, and Guam had nowhere to land if they couldn’t make it home.
Conquest of Iwo Jima would remove the early warning of bombing raids, reduce the kamikaze threats, provide a base for U.S. escort fighters, and save the lives of bomber crews making emergency landings on Iwo Jima’s three airfields. Conquest of Iwo Jima was imperative for the Allies.
Two Marine divisions assaulted the beaches of Iwo Jima against a well-prepared Japanese defensive network of registered fires and miles of extensive, mutually supporting caves and tunnels Feb. 19, 1945. It was a nightmare scene from the first hour, and continued as such for the next six weeks until the last of the approximately 22,000 Japanese defenders either surrendered or were killed.
Nothing about the battle on Iwo Jima was easy for either the Americans or the Japanese. One third of all Marines on the island were killed or wounded, and only about 1,000 of the 22,000 Japanese defenders were captured, the rest having fought to the death.
Reflections on Hallowed Ground
Recently several pilots from the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 112, the Cowboys, flew to Iwo Jima, where they had the opportunity to reflect on the significance of the island, and what it meant to visit such hallowed ground—reasons such as the role of Iwo Jima in the psyche of every Marine, the history that the squadron made there in World War II, and the history-making deployment of the squadron today.
Today a small contingent from the Japanese Navy is garrisoned on the island. All of the Cowboys who visited the island expressed gratitude to Japanese Navy Capt. Kenji Uwatoko, the commanding officer, for his hospitality.
A common refrain among the pilots who visited the island is surprise at its tiny size. This island, only 2 miles wide and 4 miles long, was congested with almost 100,000 warriors engaged in a life-or-death struggle.
“What I will never forget about the island is the sulphur smell. It was everywhere, penetrating and unpleasant,” said Maj. Dave Pohlman.
Iwo Jima translates from Japanese to mean “sulphur island.” The smell of sulphur and death was one of the enduring and hellish memories of the veterans of Iwo Jima.
The sense of awe felt when standing on the invasion beach, seeing first hand the commanding position Mount Suribachi has overlooking the beach, and feeling how difficult it is to walk in the deep volcanic sand, up the steep slope of the beach, and imagining how terrifying it would have been under constant fire from unseen Japanese positions are Maj. Jon Sherrell impressions of the island.
It was atop Mount Suribachi that Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped his famous photograph, random and un-posed, that has meant so much to Marines in the decades since.
From Mount Suribachi on the south end of the island, in combination with gun positions in cliffs to the north, the Japanese could pour a murderous crossfire onto the Marines landing on the beaches below. Conquest of Suribachi removed part of the threat, but there were still more than four more weeks of fighting, and thousands of casualties, before the north end of the island would be wrested from the Japanese.
Standing on Mount Suribachi is “a very moving experience, which every Marine serving in this theater should be afforded the opportunity to have,” said Maj. Dave Bergman, operations officer of VMFA-112.
During the battle, the fighting destroyed all vegetation on the island, and the opposing forces were fighting over a barren and rocky landscape. American pilots at the time reported seeing tens of thousands of Marines scurrying over the cratered and barren black rocks, against an enemy unseen in his caves and tunnels.
Today the island is covered with vivid green plants over black rocks and sand—the bright colors are almost surreal in contrast to the landscape as photographed and described during the battle, said Maj. Matt Spicer.
Unexploded ordnance and destroyed vehicles still inhabit the beaches, testimony to the struggle of the Marines to move ashore. Much of the island is just as the Marines left it after the war, and thousands of Japanese soldiers are entombed within the miles of tunnels and caves. Many of the caves are just as they were when sealed by the Marines, with Japanese supply boxes of food and ammunition still lying about. With oppressive heat, stagnant air and no lights, few visitors venture more than a few hundred feet deep into the caverns.
A Squadron With A Proud Legacy
Marine Fighting Squadron 112 was organized in San Diego March 1, 1942. By November 1942, the squadron was operating from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, and saw combat for the first time when attacked by the Japanese Nov. 4, 1942. They scored their first enemy kill Nov. 7 of that year and eventually were credited with 86 enemy aircraft shot down and one enemy ship sunk over three combat tours in the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. In May 1943 the squadron transitioned from F4F Wildcats to the F4U Corsairs, and continued to fight in the South Pacific until August 1943, when they returned to the United States.
In December 1943 the squadron was designated for duty aboard Navy aircraft carriers. They spent all of 1944 training for the carrier mission, as well as for close air support missions in support of Marine infantry units. This training continued until the squadron embarked upon the USS Bennington Dec. 31, 1944. Once aboard the aircraft carrier the squadron deployed to the Western Pacific and participated in attacks against Tokyo in mid-February 1945. VMF-112 then flew missions in direct support of the Marine invasion of Iwo Jima from Feb. 20 – 22, 1945.
Making History at Iwo Jima
VMF-112’s action at Iwo Jima marked the first time that carrier-based Marine aircraft flew in support of Marines attacking on the ground. Feb. 20, 1945, twenty-four hours after the first Marine landings on Iwo Jima, eight Corsairs from VMF-112 attacked Japanese pillboxes and mortar gun emplacements near Iwo’s Number 2 airfield as Marines on the ground closed in to capture the airfield. The next day VMF-112’s Corsairs pounded Japanese gun emplacements with five-inch rockets, helping clear a path for Marines to advance further up the island.
The air coordinators on the ground radioed a “well done” as the squadron returned to the USS Bennington after the attack. On the third day, the squadron’s pilots once again pounded Japanese positions, this time on the northwest coast of Iwo Jima. They also escorted bombers providing close air support to Marines on Iwo Jima.
The Navy quickly pulled the carriers away from Iwo Jima for further air attacks on mainland Japan, and to prepare for the invasion of Okinawa. VMF-112 then resumed attacking Tokyo, and later flew air support missions during the monumental battle of Okinawa as well. At the close of World War II, VMF-112 had been credited with destroying 140 Japanese airplanes in the air and 77 on the ground, the third highest of any Marine squadron. In the general demobilization after the war, VMF-112 was designated a Marine Corps Reserve squadron and sent to the Naval Air Station Dallas, Texas.
Making History Today
VMFA-112 today flies F/A-18A+ Hornets from the Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas. These Hornets are some of the most maneuverable and capable fighter-attack jets in the world. From June through September, VMFA-112 deployed to Okinawa, Guam, and Australia, participating in exercises such as Jungle Shield in Guam and Southern Frontier in Australia. The squadron also sent a contingent of officers to Exercise Ulchi Focus Lens in Korea.
This deployment marks the first overseas deployment of a Marine Reserve fighter squadron since World War II. With visits to the hallowed ground of Okinawa and Iwo Jima, the squadron has maintained continuity with its proud heritage and the bravery of its first pilots. It has also proved to be a highly experienced and well-trained asset readily available for meeting U.S. strategic requirements in the Pacific theater.