"...and the beaches ran
red with blood..."
...describes
the scene of the beginning of the American invasion of this
Japanese held island, Iwo Jima, in the Bonin islands chain
600 miles to the south of Tokyo. Up until this time most
Marines had never heard of this tiny island shaped like a
"porkchop" which measured about a mile at its widest point
and seven miles at its longest point.
They would
soon find out a lot about this tiny hell hole in the
Pacific. Over 6,000 would never return home alive.
A few years
ago, a marine visitor went to the island after obtaining
permission and was appalled as to the conditions of the
monuments to the fallen Amerians...they were in deplorable
condition and overgrown by island vegetation. What a
terrible way to remember the sacrifices of so many Americans
who shed their blood on this small island.
Following the
battle for Iwo Jima, the highest praise possible was
bestowed upon the men who endured -- with the simple but
eloquent words:
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"Among the men who fought on Iwo
island,
uncommon valor was a common virtue."
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, March
1945
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A sample of black Iwo Jima sand
from the invasion beach designated as Green-1 which
was the beach closest to Mt. Suribachi.
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The following
pages are new. They are intended as a tribute to anyone who
served on this isolated island in the Pacific. This new site
begins simply enough with the story of this web master who
spent a year on the island. I served with the United States
Air Force as a weather observer/radiosonde operator. My year
on Iwo Jima was in the latter half of 1965 and the first
half of 1966.
Many hours
were spent "boondocking" -- traveling around the island on
foot along with friends to check out the historic landmarks
and to see if we could discover new and hidden treasures. We
had to be very careful during those trips for some areas
still contained unexploded ordinance.
Below you will
find links to a number of stories from servicemen who served
on Iwo Jima -- also known as "Sulfur Island" or "the Black
Pearl" to name but a few.
I would like
to expand this small web site as a tribute to the servicemen
who were stationed on Iwo Jima from February 1945 until 1968
when the island was officially returned to the Japanese
government.
This makes the
servicemen who were there on the island members of a unique
group of men who are fairly small in number, considering the
length of time that the island was in American possession
and the small number of servicemen who were stationed on the
island.
If you were a
member of this unique group of "Black Pearl Veterans" and
would care to contribute your story, I will happily add it
to my web pages.
Joe
Richard
Det. 12, 20th Weather
Squardon,
U. S. Air Force 1962 -
1966
Iwo
Jima Aerial Images
