Permanent Exhibit
Iwo Jima
This exhibit is a part of our permanent collection and can be seen with our General Admission tickets.
Overview
The Battle for Iwo Jima remains to this day the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history. It is also the only battle in World War II in which American casualties outnumbered the Japanese.
Grave stone in memory of Don Fox at the 5th Division Cemetery. Note the grave markers in the background. Official U.S. Marine Corps photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
The American planners originally wanted Iwo Jima as a forward fighter escort base and to eliminate a Japanese early warning radar station. In recent years, controversy has arisen around the real effectiveness and justifications for Iwo Jima. Even so, Iwo Jima would protect the flank of the American forces who would soon after invade Okinawa and later the Japanese Home Islands. Nearly 27,000 Americans and 21,000 Japanese were killed or wounded in the Battle of Iwo Jima. Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded to men serving on Iwo Jima, fourteen of them posthumously. Admiral Nimitz famously said of the men at Iwo, “uncommon valor was a common virtue.”
But why was the battle so costly? Explore this exhibit to find out.
