America lost twice as many people then 911 during only one battle with the Empire of Japan.
Can anyone explain why we allow the memorials to the Japanese?
The Mosque in question is not being built at ground zero. It is three city blocks away.
It wasn't the nation of Islam who piloted those aircraft. It was a terrorist unit from Saudi Arabia.
Their religion happens to be Islam.
Saudi Arabia is America's friend, right? Where did Billy Bob get the gasoline to fuel up his Ford 350? But he hates them A-rabs.
I think some people are way out of touch and lack the intelligence to know the difference.
Casualties and losses
USA
6,822 dead[2]
19,217 wounded[1]
USS Bismarck Sea (CVE-95), sunk 21 February 1945, 318 crewmen lost
Japan
17,845–18,375 dead[1]
216 captured[1]
The Battle of Iwo Jima
Main article: Battle of Iwo Jima
The invasion of Iwo Jima began on February 19, 1945, and continued to March 26, 1945. The battle was a major initiative of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. The Marine invasion, known as Operation Detachment, was charged with the mission of capturing the airfields on the island which up until that time had harried U.S. bombing missions to Tokyo. Once the bases were secured, they could then be of use in the impending invasion of the Japanese mainland.
US postage stamp, 1945 issue, commemorating Battle of Iwo Jima.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.[7][8] The battle was the first U.S. 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.[9]
One of the first objectives after landing on the beachhead was the taking of Mount Suribachi. At the second raising of a flag on the peak, Joe Rosenthal photographed five Marines: Ira Hayes, Mike Strank, Rene Gagnon, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, and U.S. Navy corpsman John Bradley raising the U.S. flag on the fourth day of the battle (February 23). The photograph was extremely popular, being reprinted in thousands of publications. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography that same year, and ultimately came to be regarded as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war, and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time.[10]
Within the next month of fighting, three of the six soldiers raising the flag were killed: Strank, Block and Sousley.
After the fall of Mt. Suribachi in the south, the Japanese still held a strong position throughout the island. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi still had the equivalent of eight infantry battalions, a tank regiment, two artillery and three heavy mortar battalions, plus the 5,000 gunners and naval infantry. With the landing area secure, more troops and heavy equipment came ashore and the invasion proceeded north to capture the airfields and the remainder of the island. Most Japanese soldiers fought to the death. On the night of March 25, a 300-man Japanese force launched a final counterattack. The Marines suffered heavy casualties; more than 100 were killed and another 200 Americans were wounded. The island was officially declared "secured" the following day. The number of American casualties was greater than the total Allied casualties at Battle of Normandy on D-Day.
Even after Iwo Jima was about to be declared secured, about three thousand Japanese soldiers were left alive in the island's warren of caves and tunnels. Those who could not bring themselves to commit suicide hid in the caves during the day and came out at night to prowl for provisions. Some did eventually surrender and were surprised that the Americans often received them with compassion - offering them water, cigarettes, or coffee.[11] The last of these stragglers, two of Lieutenant Toshihiko Ohno's (whose body was never found) men, Yamakage Kufuku and Matsudo Linsoki, lasted six years, surrendering in 1951[12] (another source gives the date of surrender as January 6, 1949).[13]
The U.S. military occupied Iwo Jima until 1968, when it was returned to Japan.
It has been reported that many of the Japanese remains in Iwo Jima are missing their skulls.[14] It is possible that the souvenir collection of body remains continued also in the immediate post-war period.[14] (See American mutilation of Japanese war dead)
[edit] Reunion of honor
On February 19, 1985, the 40th anniversary of the day that U.S. forces began the assault on the island, veterans from both forces gathered for the Reunion of Honor just a few meters away from the spot where U.S. Marines had landed on the island.[15] During the memorial service a granite plaque was unveiled with the message:
On the 40th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima, American and Japanese veterans met again on these same sands, this time in peace and friendship. We commemorate our comrades, living and dead, who fought here with bravery and honor, and we pray together that our sacrifices on Iwo Jima will always be remembered and never be repeated.
It is inscribed on both sides of the plaque, with the English translation facing the beaches where U.S. forces landed and the Japanese translation facing inland, where Japanese troops defended their position.
After that, the Japan-U.S. combination memorial service of the 50th anniversary was held in front of this monument in March 1995. The 55th anniversary was held in 2000, followed by a 60th reunion in March 2005
Battle of Iwo Jima - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia