Iwo Jima Day 2025 is on Wednesday, February 19, 2025: 'Letters From Iwo Jima"?
Wednesday, February 19, 2025 is Iwo Jima Day 2025. Battle of Iwo Jima - The Free Information Society The next day, more marines
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The film begins on present day Iwo Jima, where Japanese archaeologists are exploring tunnels that were dug prior to the American invasion. They uncover something and the scene changes to Iwo Jima in 1944.
Private First Class Saigo, a former baker conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, and his platoon are digging beach trenches on Iwo Jima. Like all soldiers, he is complaining in general about the war, particularly about the island he is ordered to defend, saying that the Americans can have the island, when he is overheard by his company commander, Captain Tanida, who begins to beat him and his friend, Private Kashiwara, for their lack of patriotism and loyalty to the emperor.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi arrives to take command of the garrison, accompanied by his ADC, Lieutenant Fujita. Met by the island's naval commander, Rear Admiral Ohsugi, and the deputy army commander, Major General Hayashi, he begins an inspection of the current island defenses immediately and does not like what he sees. In particular, he orders the men to stop digging trenches on the beach and instead to tunnel defenses into Mount Suribachi. While carrying out his inspection, Kuribayashi encounters Captain Tanida beating Saigo and Kashiwara and orders him to stop.
The next evening, Lieutenant Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi, a famous Olympic gold medalist show jumper now commanding the 26th Tank Regiment, joins Kuribayashi for dinner. The two men are both cavalry officers and professional soldiers who do not believe in the fanatical militarism of many of their comrades. Nishi tells Kuribayashi that the prospect of the Imperial Japanese Navy supporting Iwo Jima is non-existent; much of the Japanese Combined Fleet under Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa has been destroyed at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, a fact that has been kept from almost everybody. Kuribayashi evacuates the civilian population of Iwo Jima to mainland Japan. There is no hope for support, yet the island will be defended to the death and Kuribayashi tells his commanders that the island will be defended as such. He clashes with some of his senior officers, including Hayashi and Ohsugi, who do not agree with his strategy of defending the inland areas instead of the beaches, which he believes the Americans will take rapidly. They think that he is a coward and that the superior Japanese troops will easily defeat the "degenerate" Americans.
Poor nutrition and unsanitary conditions take their toll on the garrison, with many dying of dysentery. Japanese troops continue to dig fortified ambush positions in caves and firing pits on higher ground, and also start using the caves as barracks. Another young soldier, Superior Private Shimizu, arrives for duty on the island, replacing Kashiwara, who has died of dysentery. When Shimizu admits that he was trained at the Kempeitai (military police and intelligence service) academy in Tokyo, Saigo and his friend, Private First Class Nozaki, suspect Shimizu to be a spy sent to Iwo to report on "disloyal" soldiers. Nozaki tells Saigo that he should be careful about what he writes in his letters to his wife, Hanako, and his new baby daughter, whom he has never seen, since that might have caused Shimizu to be sent to the island. Shimizu certainly does appear to be a fanatical patriot.
The first American aerial bombings occur shortly after, forcing the Japanese to dig deeper into the volcanic island. Constant aerial bombardment begins to break the soldiers' morale. Kuribayashi sends Admiral Ohsugi, who is not well, back to Japan to request reinforcements, asking for and getting Rear Admiral Toshinosuke Ichimaru in his place. Almost all the aircraft on the island are withdrawn on orders from headquarters. Soldiers prepare for battle, and begin to wear their senninbari belts. Captain Tanida, who dislikes Saigo and always gives him the worst jobs, orders him outside to empty the latrine pot; he is shocked to see a huge U.S. fleet anchored off Iwo. At that moment, the battleships begin a bombardment, and Saigo is lucky to survive when a dud shell lands nearby. Kuribayashi gives strict instructions to all soldiers - kill ten enemies before they allow themselves to be killed. The battle for Iwo Jima begins.
The Japanese beach defenses are quickly overcome and the attack switches to the defensive positions on Mount Suribachi. After one of their machine guns is destroyed, Tanida orders Saigo to carry a message to Mount Suribachi's commander, Colonel Adachi, requesting another gun. Saigo finds Adachi in despair, telling General Kuribayashi on the telephone that it is all over and that it is time to kill themselves. Kuribayashi instructs him to retreat inland to the Motoyama Plateau and regroup, but Adachi ignores him. Saigo returns to his company, relaying what he heard Kuribayashi say, but Captain Tanida orders them all to commit suicide, shooting himself in the head with his pistol. Most of the remaining soldiers, including Nozaki, commit suicide with hand grenades by holding them to their chests after pulling out the pin.
Saigo, however, refuses to kill himself and begins to leave the cave. Shimizu has also failed to commit suicide, half pulling out the pin from his grenade, but then pushing it back. He aims a pistol at Saigo and tells him to follow the order to commit suicide, but Saigo tells him what General Kuribayashi said and says that the best way to serve the Emperor is to fight, not to die needlessly. Shimizu reluctantly accompanies him.
The two men flee through the tunnels, eventually encountering more troops who have been regrouped by another officer, Lieutenant Oiso. Oiso is preparing to lead a breakout from Suribachi to the next fortified position. The men leave, but are ambushed by American troops. All except Saigo and Shimizu are killed after Saigo has the presence of mind to suggest to Shimizu that they drop and crawl instead of trying to run through the American fire. They make it to another cave system commanded by Lieutenant Ito, the former commander of the naval air forces on the island. Ito is about to behead them with his sword for daring to retreat from Suribachi, but at that moment General Kuribayashi appears and saves Saigo for a second time, saying that he ordered the retreat.
The soldiers from the cave system make a futile attack against the American positions, following orders issued by General Hayashi. Ito and his men are at the back, and when it becomes obvious that the attack is futile even the fanatical Ito decides that discretion is the better part of valour and withdraws to find reinforcements. Back in the cave system, he encounters Colonel Nishi and the remnants of his tankers and demands to know why they did not support the attack. Nishi says that Kuribayashi immediately countermanded Hayashi's order and the attack should never have been made. Ito says that Kuribayashi is a coward and that Nishi is also a coward for following his orders instead of those of Hayashi, a true patriot. Nishi reminds him that he outranks Ito, and Ito storms off to lead another attack. However, once outside the caves he gives in to the futility of the exercise. Strapping mines to his body he walks off, saying that he is going to give his life blowing up an American tank and telling his men that they are now under Colonel Nishi's command.
Nishi's men capture a wounded U.S. Marine, Sam. Despite the misgivings of his men, particularly Shimizu, Nishi orders his medic, Endo, to give him aid despite the Japanese soldiers' dwindling medical supplies. Despite their efforts, Sam dies, and Nishi finds a letter the American received from his mother. He reads it to his men and they realize that the Americans are not degenerate barbarians, as they have been told, but actually men with the same hopes and fears as themselves.
A little later, Nishi is blinded in a shall explosion. He orders his second-in-command, Lieutenant Okubo, to lead the men to rendezvous with Kuribayashi. As they leave the caves, the men hear the shot as Nishi kills himself with his rifle.
Shimizu reveals to Saigo through flashbacks that he was dishonorably discharged from the Kempeitai after only five days' service because he refused the order of a brutal superior officer to kill a barking dog. He was then reassigned to Iwo Jima. Upon learning this story, Saigo's attitude towards Shimizu softens considerably. Shimizu breaks down, cries and fearfully asks Saigo to surrender with him. He flees with another soldier, but before Saigo can follow, Lieutenant Okubo appears, shoots the other soldier, and posts a guard to prevent anyone else deserting.
Soon, Shimizu surrenders to a U.S. Marine patrol and finds another surrendered Japanese soldier. One of their guards, who does not want to be burdened with the two POWs, later shoots them. The dead soldiers are discovered by the Japanese and Lieutenant Okubo says it is a lesson for anyone else who wishes to surrender. Saigo puts Shimuzu's senninbari on his dead body.
After Okubo and several of his men are killed in a gunfight, Saigo and the remaining survivors eventually meet up with Kuribayashi, who recognizes Saigo. Saigo tells Kuribayashi that he has already saved his life twice: once from a beating and once from beheading. Kuribayashi cryptically says that "everything happens in threes".
Five days later, there is no more water and the Japanese defenders are reduced to eating bugs and worms. Soldiers still write letters to their family which will probably be never delivered. One last attack with all the remaining men is planned. Kuribayashi orders Saigo to stay behind and destroy all of the documents, including his own letters to his family, saving his life for the third time. Kuribayashi and his remaining troops launch their final attack, and Kuribayashi is critically wounded.
The loyal Fujita drags Kuribayashi away from the Americans. The next morning, Kuribayashi orders Fujita to behead him. However, the lieutenant is shot by a Marine as he raises his sword. Saigo soon appears and Kuribayashi asks to bury him so the enemy can't locate his body (Kuribayashi's body was, in fact, never found). Kuribayashi asks Saigo whether this spot is "still Japanese soil," and Saigo says to him that it "is still Japan"; Kuribayashi then shoots himself in the heart with the Colt 1911 that was given to him as a gift by American friends during his earlier stay in the United States. The same American patrol from the previous scene arrives at the area, claiming Kuribayashi's gun and Fujita's sword as war trophies.
Lieutenant Ito, having decided not to kill himself, is discovered by the Americans back in the caves.
Saigo is taken prisoner, but upon seeing Kuribayashi's gun tucked in an American Marine's belt, he swings wildly at the Americans with his shovel. The Marines who shot Shimizu threaten to shoot Saigo, but are stopped by their commander. Eventually, Saigo is knocked unconscious with a rifle butt and taken on a stretcher to a U.S. aid station on the beach. He sees the sinking sun and grins weakly.
The scene switches back to the Japanese archaeologists in the cave who uncover the bag of letters Saigo buried. As they fall from the bag, Kuribayashi's voice is heard reading from them.
I need help what is Iwo Jima?
Iwo Jima is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which makes up the southern end of the Ogasawara Islands. It is famous as the site of the February–March 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Japan during World War II, when the iconic photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima was taken. The U.S. occupied Iwo Jima until 1968, when it was returned to Japan.
The battle was marked by some of the fiercest fighting of the War. The Imperial Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified, with vast bunkers, hidden artillery, and 18 kilometers (11 mi) of tunnels. The battle was the first American attack on the Japanese Home Islands and the Imperial soldiers defended their positions tenaciously. Of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers present at the beginning of the battle, over 20,000 were killed and only 1,083 taken prisoner.
The famous picture taken by Rosenthal actually captured the second flag-raising event of the day. A U.S. flag was first raised atop Suribachi soon after it was captured early in the morning (around 10:20) of February 23, 1945.
more information here:
Which one was D-day?pacific war, Gaudalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, China,or Burma.?
D-day as referred to in history books and the national d day memorial deals with june 6 1944 in the European theatre but this was not the first battle fought by soldiers in WW2 for the Americans. The first battle actually occured in the pacific. Guadal Canal and Midway both occured pre D Day. Also antoher poster is correct when they say that any troop deployment is called d day as in deployment day and then counts upward like d plus 1 or d plus 2 counts how many days troops hav ebeen in ground combat in that arena.
