_With his buddies holding the four corners of the National Colors,
the last rites for a fallen Marine are offered by the chaplain at a
temporary gravesite in Iwo’s black sand. Chaplains of all religious
persuasions heroically ministered to all Marines and Corpsmen
throughout the thick of the fighting at their own risk._]
Iwo Jima represented at once the supreme test and the pinnacle of
American amphibious capabilities in the Pacific War. The sheer
magnitude of the task--planning the assault and sustaining of that many
troops against such a formidable objective--made Operation Detachment
an enduring model of “detailed planning and violent execution.”
Here the element of surprise was not available to the attacker.
Yet the speed of the American landing and the toughness with which
assault units withstood the withering barrages astounded the Japanese
defenders. “The landing on Iwo was the epitome of everything we’d
learned over the years about amphibious assaults,” said Colonel Wornham
of the 27th Marines. Bad as the enemy fire became on D-day, there were
no reports of “Issue in doubt.” Lieutenant Colonel Galer compared Iwo
Jima with his Guadalcanal experience: “Then it was ‘can we hold?’ Here
at Iwo Jima the question was simply ‘When can we get it over?’”
The ship-to-shore assault at Iwo was impressive enough, but the real
measure of amphibious effectiveness can be seen in the massive,
sustained logistical support which somehow flowed over those
treacherous beaches. Not only did the Marines have all the ammunition
and flamethrower refills they needed, around the clock, but they also
had many of the less obvious necessities and niceties which marked
this battle as different from its predecessors. Marines on Iwo had
ample quantities of whole blood, some of it donated barely two weeks in
advance, flown in, refrigerated, and available. The Marines also had
mail call, unit newsletters, fresh water, radio batteries, fresh-baked
bread, and prefabricated burial markers, thousands of them.
Iwo Jima featured superior inter-service cooperation. The Navy-Marine
Corps team rarely functioned more efficiently. The blue-water Navy
continued to earn the respect of the Marines, especially on D-2
when the flotilla of tiny LCI gunboats bravely attacked the coastal
defense guns to protect the Navy and Marine frogmen. Likewise, the
Marines welcomed the contributions of the Army, Coast Guard, Coast and
Geodetic Survey, Red Cross, and the host of combat correspondents--all
of whom shared both the misery and the glory of the prolonged battle.
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