Uncommon Valor
The Battle for Iwo Jima

Related: Army, Navy, and Marine Corps Doctrine for amphibious operations.

"Among the Americans serving on Iwo island, uncommon valor was a common virtue."
(Adm. Chester A. Nimitz)

"Holland, the raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years."
(Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, after witnessing the flag raising on 23Feb45)

Storm'd at with shot and shell Bravely they rode and well Into the Jaws of Death Into the Mouth of Hell

It is difficult to imagine any battlefield more closely resembling the Biblical vision of Hell than the 8 square miles of volcanic ash, pummice and sand that even tanks, let alone Marines, could not easily move across -- reeking of sulphur and brimstone, swept by bombs, bullets and shellfire, and soaked in the blood of more than 26,000 dead. Truly the Prince of Darkness must have felt right at home.

The penultimate campaign of the Pacific theater, the battle for Iwo Jima was the definitive operation forthe Marine Corps, putting into practice the skills of amphibious assault first contemplated in the 1920's and finely honed in the Solomons, Marshals, Marianas, and Palaus over 2¹/2 years of war. Iwo Jima was the bloodiest battle in the history of the Corps (more casualties than the Union army at Gettysburg), yielding, among many things, more than ¹/4 of all the Medals of Honor awarded Marines during World War II and the most widely reproduced photograph of all time.

(Links to additional resources)

---

Contents

General Histories:

• The Volcano Islands (Kazan Retto)

---

US Marine Corps Histories:

• U.S. MARINE CORPS HISTORICAL MONOGRAPH
  Iwo Jima: Amphibious Epic

• HISTORY OF U.S. MARINE CORPS OPERATIONS IN WORLD WAR II
  Vol. IV: Western Pacific Operations
  Part VI: Iwo Jima

• MARINES IN WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE HISTORY
  Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima

• Coral and Brass, Gen. Holland M. Smith, USMC

• Official Action Reports and Oral Histories:

  • Muster Roll: 2d Battalion, 28th Marines (Feb. 1945) (includes those who raised both flags on Mt. Suribachi)
  • Third Marine Division Action Report
  • Fifth Marine Division Action Report

---

US Navy Histories:

• HISTORY OF U.S. NAVAL OPERATIONS IN WORLD WAR II
  Vol. XIV: Victory in the Pacific, 1945

• The Amphibians Came to Conquer
  Chapter XXIII: Iwo Jima--Death at Its Best

• Building the Navy's Bases in World War II: Chapter 28-- Bases in the Marianas and Iwo Jima

• History of the Medical Department of the United States Navy in World War II
  Iwo Jima

• Official Action Reports and Oral Histories:
  • Amphibious Operations: Capture of Iwo Jima, 16 February to 16 March 1945 [Cominch P-0012]
  • USS West Virginia (BB-48) Action Report [Shore Bombardment missions]

---

US Coast Guard Histories:

• The Coast Guard and the Invasion of Iwo Jima
• The Coast Guard's Role in the Raising of the Flag on Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima

---

US Army Air Forces Histories:

• ARMY AIR FORCES IN WORLD WAR II
  Vol. V: The Pacific, Matterhorn to Nagasaki, June 1944 to August 1945: "Iwo Jima"

• UNITED STATES STRATEGIC BOMBING SURVEY
  Campaigns of the Pacific War: "The Iwo Jima Campaign"

---

Appendices:

• U.S. Command at Iwo Jima
• Japanese Command at Iwo Jima
• Casualty Tables -- U.S. & Japanese
• Medal of Honor Awards

---

Additional Resources
World War II DVDs from The History Channel Dedicaton of 5th Marine Division Cemetery Pharmacist Mate Second Class John Bradley, USN, the only Navy participant in the raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi, recounts the experience [NHC Oral History] IwoJima.com Iwo Jima, A Look Back

---

Return to HyperWar: Pacific Theater of Operations

Return to HyperWar: World War II on the World Wide Web