Iwo Jima

Our squadron took a field trip to the island of Iwo Jima on Jan 25th. It's a 8 square mile hunk of dormant volcano that is about 650 miles south of Tokyo in the middle of the Pacific. As you may already know from WWII history, Iwo Jima was the site of one of the most significant engagements during the war, specifically for the US Marine Corps. And I think just about everybody is familiar with the above picture; one of the most famous and enduring combat photos ever taken. The island was a strategic airfield during WWII and the Japanese Self Defense Force still operates an airfield there. Japanese F-16's and search & rescue helos are based there and it's still used as a refueling/divert field for military aircraft on long range flights. We were fortunate enough to get a Navy C-130 to fly us down to the island for a day trip since access to the island is strictly controlled. In the spirit of remembering the Marines who fought bravely on the island we brought MRE's with us for lunch; just a small reminder that we still have troops in zone. The name Iwo Jima means "sulfur island" (iwo=sulfur, jima=island) in Japanese. Unsuprisingly we got the strong smell of sulfur as we were making our approach to the runway. As you can tell from the photos the island is pretty barren and relatively flat except for Mt Suribachi which tops out at a whopping 550 feet or so. We saw a bunch of cats, a couple wild turkeys, many centipedes and could hear other birds, but that's about it. We were advised not to go too far off the beaten track during our explorations since there is still potentially live ordnance laying around as well as hidden caves and whatnot to get trapped in. There wasn't exactly a tour bus for our group so we had to walk to Mt Suribachi. The round trip from the airfield was about 9 miles. It was pretty easy going but the road up Mt Suribachi ranges between 10-15 degrees of slope so getting up is a chore. Fortunately it's not all that tall so just when the climb really starts getting painful it's over. Once at the top we took our pictures, ate our MRE's and took a short break. Then it was back down the mountain and speed walk the 4 miles back to the air terminal for our flight back home.


Here is a good link for more detailed info on this island and the WWII battle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwo_Jima.

Iwo Jima

There are still a few pillboxes, cave openings, gunnery installations etc that have been left in memorial to the battle. You can go into a few of the caves however most of the deeper and more complex caves have been blocked off. Mt Suribachi is riddled with caves that Japanese troops used as shelter and defensive postions during the battle. Those caves have been blocked off since many of their bodies were never recovered after the war and the mountain is essentially their grave. Plus there is still thought to be several remaining ammo stockpiles that were trapped in those caves so they're not safe to explore.

Mt Suribachi

Mt Suribachi is 546 feet of dormant volcano that acts as the main monument to the battle which took place here. The picture at the top is looking down into the crater; you can see the sulfuric steam jetting up out of the bottom of the crater. As you climb up the road to the top of the mountain you can still see pockmarks in cliff faces from shelling during the war. Those are the brown blotches in the second picture down.

Mt Suribachi Memorials

"Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue" — Admiral Chester Nimitz

These are the memorials at the top of Mt Suribachi. The top picture is the American memorial and the bottom two are of the Japanese memorial. At this hallowed place the casualties of both sides are memorialized. American forces suffered 26,000 casualties, including nearly 7,000 killed in action. Most of these casualties were US Marines; it was the most costly battle the Marines fought in the war. Over a quarter of the Medals of Honor awarded to Marines in the entire war were given for conduct in this invasion - 27 total. Of the 21,800 Japanese soldiers defending the island only 200 were taken prisoner (most of those were conscripted Koreans being used as hard laborers). On the sides of the American memorial are two Eagle, Globe, and Anchors; the revered symbol of the US Marines. Over the years Marines have placed their dog tags at this site over the EGA's. There may be some deeper significance to the dog tags being placed there so hopefully one of you Marines out there can enlighten me if there is. While we were there a Japanese 2-Star General came up to the site to get a personal tour and pay his respects to the soldiers of both sides; he very respectfully bowed and prayed at each monument. But the most striking thing about being up there is the thought of that famous picture being taken at that spot and what that scene would have actually been like at the time. The picture was taken only 4 days after the beginning of the assault, the Marines still had a very hard and costly month of fighting remaining at that point until Iwo Jima was officially declared "secure". The chaos surrounding the flag raising must have been unimaginable as the battle continued to rage all around them.

The Sands of Iwo Jima

The top two pictures are of the beaches where the main assault forces touched down. The Japanese didn't fire on the assault force initially, instead waiting for them to come a little further in where they would be enveloped in tremendous converging weapons fire. The Japanese had also plotted out in detail every inch of the island, had already sighted in their artillery and carefully concealed their gun emplacements to make it even more difficult for the American forces to advance in the already treacherous terrain. In the lower pictures you can see several ships and landing craft that still haunt the beachline on the north side of the island.

Assorted Iwo Jima

My House

This is my off-base house. A bit shabby on the outside but it's an old house.



This is looking at my back door. The tree on the right is some kind of tiny orange that you can eat but I think is primarily used in cooking. I'm not sure the exact name but they are slightly smaller than a golf ball and taste like a tangerine.

I've got this set of palm trees in one corner of the yard.















This is looking left out of my front yard.










This is looking right out of my yard.

Kyoto Day 2 - Eikan Do Temple

Eikan-Do Temple was another cool place with an interesting Zen rock garden.

Kyoto Day 2 - Ginkakuji Temple

Ginkakuji Temple is also called the "Silver Pavilion". It was built in 1482 by a shogun who wanted his own version of the Golden Temple except in silver. But for whatever reason the temple was never guilded in silver so it's not very impressive looking other than that it's really old and historic. They do have some pretty impressive rock garden sculptures however.

Kyoto Day 2 - Path of Philosophy

This is the "Path of Philosophy". It's about 3/4 of a mile long and links one main groups of temples with the Ginkakuji Temple area. It's a nice little walk along this canal and has many quaint shops and cafes along the way. While on the path you're supposed to have some time of deep reflection and philososiphzing I suppose. Going from south to north as we did you end up on the street with all the flags as you hike the rest of the way up to Ginkakuji.