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| The Joe Rosenthal photo which won a Pulitzer in 1945, probably the most famous American photo of WWII. Mt Suribachi, Iwo Jima, February 23rd 1945 |
It’s 75 years to the day since American marines began their assault on the Japanese volcanic islet of Iwo Jima (硫黃島 —Liuhuang Dao, “sulphur island”), which became the Battle of Iwo Jima.
36 days and 47,000 casualties later they had secured the allies’ first piece of Japanese land.
James Bradley’s father John was on that island and was one of those marines who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi* on 23 February 1945. James wrote about it in his bestselling “Flags of our Fathers”, which Clint (‘Dirty Harry”) Eastwood turned into an award-winning film. So much entertainment, so much money made from slaughter.…
I’ve followed James Bradley via another fascinating book of his: “China Mirage”.
I also take note of anniversaries of the Pacific War because our father fought the Japanese in Papua New Guinea. And met our mother in Tokyo just after the war, where I was born.
And as a kid in Canberra I often visited the War Memorial, the best war museum in the world, and lingered at the section on the war with Japan, in New Guinea, especially the wonderful dioramas of the Kokoda Trail... Kokoda where our father fought as a Captain in the Australian Army, was shot at, but mainly spent his time interrogating Japanese prisoners of war, having been given crash lessons in Japanese, which he learnt fluently because he was a gifted linguist.
And I’d look at the Japanese flags, captured by Aussies from Japanese soldiers in New Guinea, one of them donated our Dad, and so a Flag of our Father.
ADDED: (24/2): I learn of a book marking the 75th anniversary of the Battle: “Unknown Valor” by Martha MacCallum whose Uncle was killed on the day Mt Suribachi was captured, and the flag raised…
* 摺鉢山 Zheboshan = twisted (or broken) alms (or earthenware) bowl mountain
And as a kid in Canberra I often visited the War Memorial, the best war museum in the world, and lingered at the section on the war with Japan, in New Guinea, especially the wonderful dioramas of the Kokoda Trail... Kokoda where our father fought as a Captain in the Australian Army, was shot at, but mainly spent his time interrogating Japanese prisoners of war, having been given crash lessons in Japanese, which he learnt fluently because he was a gifted linguist.
And I’d look at the Japanese flags, captured by Aussies from Japanese soldiers in New Guinea, one of them donated our Dad, and so a Flag of our Father.
ADDED: (24/2): I learn of a book marking the 75th anniversary of the Battle: “Unknown Valor” by Martha MacCallum whose Uncle was killed on the day Mt Suribachi was captured, and the flag raised…
* 摺鉢山 Zheboshan = twisted (or broken) alms (or earthenware) bowl mountain
