Iwo Jima Falls: America Secures a Critical Base

The US Marine Corps secured Iwo Jima on March 16, 1945, after 36 days of fighting that killed 6,821 Americans and virtually all 21,000 Japanese defenders. Only 216 Japanese soldiers were captured alive. The island's strategic value was as an emergency landing field for B-29 bombers returning damaged from raids over Japan. Before Iwo Jima's capture, crippled bombers had to ditch in the Pacific with little chance of crew survival. After the island was secured, 2,251 B-29 bombers made emergency landings on its runways, saving an estimated 24,000 aircrewmen. Japanese holdouts continued to emerge from the island's tunnel network for weeks after the official securing; the last two Japanese soldiers, unaware the war had ended, surrendered in 1949. Admiral Chester Nimitz's assessment of the battle became its epitaph: 'Among the Americans who served on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.' Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded for the battle, the most for any single engagement in American military history.