From the March 13th Washington Post, AP.
American veterans and Japanese dignitaries were at Iwo Jima and saluted their flags at the base of Mt. Suribachi.
The battle began Feb. 19, 1945, and the island was declared secure March 26th.
Virtually the whole Japanese garrison of 21,570 were killed as were 6,821 Americans.
To Japan, the now-uninhabited island is known as Ito and is 700 miles south of Tokyo. The United States wanted the island to be used as an airbase for fighter escort planes attacking Japan.
Dozens of remains are found each year. There are still 12,000 Japanese and 218 Americans listed as missing in action. In 2010, two mass graves containing at least 2,000 Japanese bodies were found.
The commemoration was canceled last year because of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
A Hard Fought battle. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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