The United States Marines began their assault on Iwo Jima. Thank God for the Greatest Generation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uc2F7Vq7hY&t=6s

We lost nearly 7,000 American boys and 20,000 wounded in that 35-day fight. The chances of being hit were one in three. Maybe no one cares about this kind of sacrifice anymore.

Between that + the death toll estimates on an invasion of Japan, I see no reason for any regrets for the A-bombs dropped on the home island.

quote:

Originally posted by Norman Conquest:
Between that + the death toll estimates on an invasion of Japan, I see no reason for any regrets for the A-bombs dropped on the home island.

Just watched Oppenheimer and the movie treats that question very fairly.

There was another anniversary on Feb. 19th, the Japanese attack on the Australian mainland in Darwin. The defending fighters destroyed by the Japs were with the USAAF 49th fighter squadron -- P-40s that could not begin to match the climb capabilities of the Zero. This was posted on another forum by our friend "Swagman," from New South Wales:

On 19 February 1942 mainland Australia came under attack for the first time when Japanese forces mounted two air raids on Darwin. The two attacks, which were planned and led by the commander responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor ten weeks earlier, involved 188 attack aircraft which were launched from four Japanese aircraft-carriers in the Timor Sea, and a second raid of 54 land-based bombers. The carrier battle group consisted additionally of two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, seven destroyers, three submarines, and two other heavy cruisers on distant cover.

In the first attack, which began just before 10.00 am, Kate bombers hit shipping, infrastructure and the town; and Val dive bombers escorted by Zero fighters then attacked shipping in the harbour, and the military and civil aerodromes. The attack ceased after about 25 minutes. The second raid, which began around 11.45 am, involved high altitude bombing of the Royal Australian Air Force base by twin-engine machines.

The two raids killed 235 people with a further 300 to 400 wounded. Thirty aircraft were destroyed, including nine out of the ten flying in defence, nine ships in the harbour and two outside were sunk, and some of the civil and military facilities in Darwin were destroyed.

The Japanese lost four aircraft to a spirited defence: two Val bombers and two Zero fighters. One of the fighters crash-landed on Melville Island to Darwin’s north, and its pilot was captured by a local Aboriginal man, to become the first prisoner of war taken on Australian soil.

Lest we Forget.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
We lost nearly 7,000 American boys and 20,000 wounded in that 35-day fight. The chances of being hit were one in three. Maybe no one cares about this kind of sacrifice anymore.

Sure we care, we all do. The parents of the soldiers care, the uncles and cousins and nieces of the soldiers care. The little baby girls of the soldiers care as well as the precocious sons.

I've read that Washington had bullet holes in his clothes from being on the line in war and had horses shot out from under him. Washington cared.

Does the president or the Congress care today? Does "W" or Obama, Trump and Biden understand the lives they sacrificed needlessly? I doubt it.

I was getting my oil changed a few years ago, there was this little old man sitting near me in the waiting room. He was wearing a USMC Veteran hat. Around the hat were names of islands, Iwo Jima, Saipan, etc.
The words, "Thank you for your service." Seemed weak.
Just a little old man, without the hat no one would know.
He would never hurt anyone.

I remember reading a few years ago about Joe Foss being accosted at the airport by security wanting to take his MOH from him as he might use it as a weapon. The shit really hit the fan as you might expect.

quote:

Originally posted by Norman Conquest:
I remember reading a few years ago about Joe Foss being accosted at the airport by security wanting to take his MOH from him as he might use it as a weapon. The shit really hit the fan as you might expect.

That was In Phoenix. TSA is a special kind of stupid.
Joe Foss was in my brother’s EAA chapter. I met him at a meeting. Again sitting across a table drinking iced tea you would never suspect what he had done.

IF any of you haven't read

The Book: Joe Foss, you have missed

one of the greatest books ever printed.

George