Iwo Jima just happens to be approximately 600 miles east of Okinawa. Back in 2004, I was fortunate to be able to fly out there in an F/A-18 and tour the island with 7 other officers. All it cost was a bottle of Jack Daniels for the local Japanese as a bribe to get them to drive us to a few locations around the island. And, as I found out this time around it was well worth it.
This visit was entirely more strenuous. The squadron set up a trip to the island for the entire squadron. We all flew out on 3 C-130's from one of the local Marine squadrons. The plan was to take a 6 F/A-18s, refuel them with the C-130s and conduct an attack on the island. The trip out was to take 2 1/2 hours but ended up taking almost 5. The hornets were not able to take off on time due to airfield issues and never ended up joining the C-130s in flight. So we circled the island waiting.
Subsequently, the tour of the island was cut short almost 3 hours. This meant that the hike, yes, I said hike, would not make it's way up to the top of Mt. Suribachi. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Most of the Marines were upset since most of them have never been to the island and wanted to see the top of the hill, the sight of the historic flag raising. However, to do this all on foot in one day was tough. The turnaround point ended up being the beach where the amphibious assault took place. At least the Marines were able to collect some of the black volcanic sand from the beach.
At the end of it all, we were drenched with sweat (soaked from head to toe, literally), blistered feet and sunburned from the hot August sun. Below are some pictures of the trip.
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The historic (2nd) flag raising.
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A quick photo opportunity in the midst of battle.
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Picture of Marines on the beach during the battle in 1945 with Mt. Suribachi in the background.
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Another picture of the beach during the battle.