19 February 1945 A.D. U.S. Marines on the Beaches at Iwo Jima—By Day’s End: 550 Dead Marines & 1800 Wounded; Salute to COL John Strope, USMC (ret.), Iwo Survivor, Purple Heart from Iwo, and Parishioner at our Parish
19 February 1945 A.D. U.S. Marines on the Beaches at Iwo Jima—By Day’s End: 550 Dead Marines & 1800 Wounded; Salute to COL John Strope, USMC (ret.), Iwo Survivor, Purple Heart from Iwo, and Parishioner at our Parish Editors. “Marines invade Iwo Jima.” History.com. N.d. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/marines-invade-iwo-jima . Accessed 18 Feb 2015. Marines invade Iwo Jima On this day, Operation Detachment, the U.S. Marines' invasion of Iwo Jima, is launched. Iwo Jima was a barren Pacific island guarded by Japanese artillery, but to American military minds, it was prime real estate on which to build airfields to launch bombing raids against Japan, only 660 miles away. The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese defense of the island in February 1944, when B-24 and B-25 bombers raided the island for 74 days. It was the longest pre-invasion bombardment of the war, necessary because of th...