The Importance of Iwo Jima
WHAT WAS THE SIGNFICANCE OF THE BATTLE OF IWO JIMA? ONE THING THAT MADE IT IMPORTANT WAS THAT IS WAS THE FIRST INVASION FROM THE US ON JAPENESE HOMELANDS. ANOTHER KEY REASON FOR THE BATTLE TO BE IMPORTANT AND NOTICED WOULD BE THE FACT THAT IT'S ONE OF THE BLOODIEST BATTLES IN MARINE CORPS HISTORY. IWO JIMA, BEING A SMALLER ISLAND AND ONLY COVERING ABOUT 80 SQUARE MILES, HAD AROUND 20,000 JAPENESE TROUPS. THE JAPENESE HAD TONS OF TUNNELS THROUGH THE ISLAND LEADING TO A TON OF HOLES THEY COULD POP OUT OF AND SHOOT AT THE INCOMING US MARINES AT ANY TIME. AFTER THE fighting, THE US HAD AROUND 6,500 DEAD AND ANOTHER 26,00O WOUNDED AND/OR MISSING. WITH THE JAPENESE UNWILLINGNESS TO GIVE UP THERE WAS ONLY 216 OF THE 20,000 japenese CAPTURED. THE BATTLE OF IWO JIMA WAS SCARY AND TOOK A LOT OF BRAVERY AND WAS ONe THE BATTLES THAT AWARDED THE MOST MEDALS OF HONORS WITH 27 MEDALS 5 TO THE NAVY AND 22 TO THE MARINES. ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNIZABLE THINGS OF THE BATTLE WAS WHEN IT WAS NEAR OVER AND THEY PUT THE FLAG ON TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN, WHICH SOON BECAME ONE OF THE MOST KNOWN PHOTOS. IN THE ERA THE US CITIZENS WERE MAD AT THE JAPENESE FOR PEARL HARBOR AND WANTED JUSTICE WHICH WAS THE BATTLE OF IWO JIMA.