Iwo Jima Legacy of Valor

424 Pages·1985·44.554 MB·English

by  Bill D. Ross

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ROSS
BILL
D.
—
"A oovrdnajfxdmg work of history."
—
Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.
Editor, American Heritage Publishing Company
"Moving—and thrilling. . ."
Professor Henry Steele Commager
IWO JIMA: Legacy of Valor
by BILL D. ROSS
February 19, 1945: the day on which, on a
seemingly impregnable flyspeck Pacific island,
some 75,000 United States Marines began their
thirty-six-day assault against Japanese forces
defending to the last man the front door to their
homeland, iwo jima chronicles that deadly com-
—
bat a battlethe likes ofwhich mankind will prob-
ably never witness again. It is the story of
America's part in the holocaust of that invasion
why the battle was fought, how it was fought, the
drama and conflict among the top brass of U.S.
armedforces, thebattle's real roleand importance
in the ultimate conquest of Japan.
IWOJIMA is a brutal book, filled with the horror,
the heroism, the patriotismofwar. Onthistinystrip
of volcanic ash and stone, in one of the most
terrible of all battles since the Civil War, 25,852
Americansbecamecasualties, 6,821 werekilled in
action. Of Japan's estimated 21,000 troops, just
—
over a thousand were taken prisoner the rest
died in hand-to-hand fighting, by incineration or
hara-kiri.
In the entire course of the five years of World
War II, both in Europe and the Pacific, only 353
Congressional Medals of Honor, the nation's high-
est award for heroism, were given. In just a little
morethan a month, twenty-seven ofthesewentto
the men of Iwo Jima.
IwoJima is nowfortyyears into history A pho-
tograph of the American flag being raised atop
Iwo'sMountSuribachiandagiantbronzereplicaof
the memorable scene in Washington, D.C. will
keep that moment forever alive in the nation's his-
tory to come.
(Jacketdqiigrr Martin Engel)
(Photograph ofstatue: MqxDesfors)

IWO
JIMA

wo
JIMA
I
LEGACY OF VALOR
BY
BILL D.ROSS
THE VANGUARD PRESS
NEW YORK
Copyright © 1985by Bill D. Ross
Published by Vanguard Press, Inc., 424 Madison Avenue. NewYork, N. Y. 10017.
Pubhshed simultaneously in Canadaby Book Center, Inc., Montreal.
All rights reserved.
Nopartofthis publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
anyform orbyany means, electronicormechanical, including
photocopy, recording, oranyinformation orretrieval system, or
otherwise, nowknown or to be invented, without the written permission
ofthepublisher, except by areviewerwho may wish to quote briefpassages in
connection with a reviewforanewspaper, magazine, radio, or television.
LibraryofCongress Catalogingin Publication Data
Ross, Bill D.
IwoJima : legacyofvalor.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. IowaJima, Battle of, 1945. I. Title.
D767.99.I9R67 1985 940.54'26 84-15186
ISBN: 0-8149-0895-0
Designer: Tom Bevans
Manufac1tur2ed3in4the5Un6ite7d S8tate9so0fAmerica.
"Vtcfon/ was never in doubt. Its cost was. .What was in
. .
doubt, in all our minds, was whether there would be any of
us left to dedicate our cemetery at the end, or whether the
last Marine would die knocking out the lastJapanese gun and
gunner. ."
. . —
Major General Graves B. Erskine
at the dedication of the
Third Marine Division Cemetery at Iwo Jima,
March 14, 1945.