Author: Larry Earl Smith Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company ISBN: 9780393062342 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 396
Book Description
An account of the 1945 battle documents the significant losses on both sides, the controversy surrounding the famous photograph by Joe Rosenthal, and the alleged suicide of Japanese general Tadamichi Juribayashi.
Author: Larry Smith Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company ISBN: 0393285634 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 388
Book Description
“A vivid and compelling account by a true master of oral history.” —General James L. Jones, USMC (Ret.), Supreme Allied Commander, Europe On February 19, 1945, nearly 70,000 American soldiers invaded a tiny volcanic island in the Pacific. Over the next thirty-five days, approximately 28,000 soldiers died, including nearly 22,000 Japanese and 6,821 Americans, making Iwo Jima one of the costliest battles of World War II. In his most important work to date, best-selling author Larry Smith lets twenty-two veterans of the conflict tell the story of this epic clash in their own words. Many of these soldiers were no more than teenagers when they answered their country’s call, and yet the men relate the momentous events of this terrible conflict as if they occurred just last year, instead of more than half a century ago. Describing the initial charge across the treacherous black ash of the landing beach under heavy fire is Chuck Lindberg, the last survivor of the two teams that planted the flags on Mount Suribachi—a moment captured forever in Joe Rosenthal’s iconic photograph for the Associated Press. General Fred Haynes recounts his heroic attempts to keep order amid tremendous casualties on the battlefield. Woody Williams and George Wahlen, two of the battle’s twenty-six Medal of Honor recipients, tell their unbelievable stories, and Samuel Tso relates his role as one of the famous Navajo code talkers. Though the flags went up just days after the invasion, the fighting wasn’t over: through nearly eight miles of tunnels, thousands of Japanese troops defended the island despite hundred-degree heat, famine rations, and the overpowering stench of sulfur. To get both sides of the story, Smith interviewed the daughter of Captain Tsunezo Wachi, one of the most prominent Japanese survivors, and presents new evidence about the disappearance of the famed Japanese commander Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, who waged a brilliant defense of the island only to allegedly commit suicide rather than submit to the Americans. Smith also investigates the controversy surrounding Rosenthal’s famous photograph of the flag raising, and he interviews bomber and fighter crewmen to hear firsthand whether they believed the terrible cost of capturing the island was truly justified by its strategic use as an emergency stop for B-29 Superfortress bombers. Through the story of Navy Cross recipient John Ripley, Smith brings the history of the island up-to-date—from its return to Japan in 1968 to the dramatic discoveries made in the caves of Iwo in the 1980s and the Japanese-American Reunion of Honor now held annually on the island. With dozens of photographs and maps, Iwo Jima is a stunning history of this emblematic battle, but it is also a personal history of the generation of soldiers, many now in their final years, who waged one of the most important wars in American history.
Author: Eric M. Hammel Publisher: Zenith Imprint ISBN: 0760320977 Category : Iwo Jima, Battle of, Japan, 1945 Languages : en Pages : 271
Book Description
From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, and more recently from the jungles of Vietnam to the killing fields of Iraq, America's "soldiers of the sea" have fought their country's battles with famed valor, skill, and perseverance in the face of long odds. But where did the U.S. Marines earn their reputation as being the "first to fight?" It was on the South Pacific Island of Guadalcanal. There, on August 7, 1942, the 1st Marine Division stormed ashore to begin one of the most difficult and brutal campaigns of military history, and an unbroken string of victories staged across the Pacific.
Author: Breanne Robertson Publisher: ISBN: 9781732003071 Category : Flags Languages : en Pages : 371
Book Description
"Investigating Iwo encourages us to explore the connection between American visual culture and World War II, particularly how the image inspired Marines, servicemembers, and civilians to carry on with the war and to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure victory over the Axis Powers. Chapters shed light on the processes through which history becomes memory and gains meaning over time. The contributors ask only that we be willing to take a closer look, to remain open to new perspectives that can deepen our understanding of familiar topics related to the flag raising, including Rosenthal's famous picture, that continue to mean so much to us today"--
Author: Adam Makos Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0425257835 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 418
Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of Spearhead and A Higher Call comes an unflinching, brutal, and relentless firsthand chronicle of United States Marine Corps' actions in the Pacific during World War 2. Following fifteen Marines from the Pearl Harbor attack, through battles with the Japanese, to their return home after V-J Day, Adam Makos and Marcus Brotherton have compiled an oral history of the Pacific War in the words of the men who fought on the front lines. With unflinching honesty, these Marines reveal harrowing accounts of combat with an implacable enemy, the friendships and camaraderie they found--and lost--and the aftermath of the war's impact on their lives. With unprecedented access to the veterans, rare photographs, and unpublished memoirs, Voices of the Pacific presents true stories of heroism as told by such World War II veterans as Sid Phillips, R. V. Burgin, and Chuck Tatum--whose exploits were featured in the HBO(R) miniseries, The Pacific--and their Marine buddies from the legendary 1st Marine Division. Includes rare photos
Author: Sid Phillips Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 1101561645 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 258
Book Description
Sid Phillips, a World War II Marine Corps hero featured in HBO®'s The Pacific, offers up an invaluable firsthand account of the war against Japan. A mortarman with H-2-1 of the legendary 1st Marine Division, Sid was only seventeen years old when he entered combat with the Japanese. Some two years later, when he returned home, the island fighting on Guadalcanal and Cape Gloucester had turned Sid into an "Old Timer" by Marine standards, and more: he left as a boy, but came home a man. These are his memoirs, the humble and candid tales that Sid collected during a Pacific odyssey spanning half the globe, from the grueling boot camp at Parris Island, to the coconut groves of Guadalcanal, to the romantic respite of Australia. Sid recalls his encounters with icons like Chesty Puller, General Vandergrift, Eleanor Roosevelt, and his boyhood friend, Eugene Sledge. He remembers the rain of steel from Japanese bombers and battleships, the brutality of the tropical elements, and the haunting notion of being expendable. This is the story of how Sid stood shoulder to shoulder with his Marine brothers to discover the inner strength and deep faith necessary to survive the dark, early days, of World War II in the Pacific.
Author: Martha MacCallum Publisher: HarperCollins ISBN: 0062853872 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 374
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. In honor of the 75th Anniversary of one of the most critical battles of World War II, the popular primetime Fox News anchor of The Story with Martha MacCallum pays tribute to the heroic men who sacrificed everything at Iwo Jima to defeat the Armed Forces of Emperor Hirohito—among them, a member of her own family, Harry Gray. Admiral Chester Nimitz spoke of the “uncommon valor” of the men who fought on Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest and most brutal battles of World War II. In thirty-six grueling days, nearly 7,000 Marines were killed and 22,000 were wounded. Martha MacCallum takes us from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima through the lives of these men of valor, among them Harry Gray, a member of her own family. In Unknown Valor, she weaves their stories—from Boston, Massachusetts, to Gulfport, Mississippi, as told through letters and recollections—into the larger history of what American military leaders rightly saw as an eventual showdown in the Pacific with Japan. In a relentless push through the jungles of Guadalcanal, over the coral reefs of Tarawa, past the bloody ridge of Peleliu, against the banzai charges of Guam, and to the cliffs of Saipan, these men were on a path that ultimately led to the black sands of Iwo Jima, the doorstep of the Japanese Empire. Meticulously researched, heart-wrenching, and illuminating, Unknown Valor reveals the sacrifices of ordinary Marines who saved the world from tyranny and left indelible marks on those back home who loved them.
Author: Larry Earl Smith
Author: Larry Smith
Author: Eric M. Hammel
Author: Breanne Robertson
Author: Richard F. Newcomb
Author: John C. Chapin
Author: Worrall Reed Carter
Author: Adam Makos
Author: Sid Phillips
Author: Martha MacCallum