With the exception of Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, the majority of the Pacific World War II battlefields are remote, and difficult and expensive to visit. In the case of Iwo Jima it is almost impossible.
After the war the US Air Force maintained a base on the island for 20 years and a US Coast Guard contingent remained until 1968 to operate the Long Range Aid to Navigation (LORAN) station situated near Kitano Point in the north. This token presence vanished in 1993 when the island was turned over to the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency and Iwo Jima was returned to Japanese jurisdiction and is now a government installation and a national war memorial. With no visitor facilities or civilian airport, the only access for Westerners is via the annual one-day trips, organized by Marine Corps oriented tour companies, which are almost exclusively allocated to Iwo Jima veterans.
Debris and bodies lie in the open on the beaches of Iwo Jima, giving a stark suggestion of the violence of the battle. Note the depth of the thick volcanic sand, which caused such intense problems for US mobility in the advance out of the initial beachhead. (Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)
All American dead were removed prior to the handover and re-interred in either the Punchbowl Cemetery in Hawaii or returned to the United States. No such service could be provided for the Japanese dead, most of whom were either buried in mass graves or sealed in caves and tunnels during the battle. For many years groups of “bone diggers” from Japan, led by Tsuenzo Wachi, former Imperial Navy captain and one time commander on Iwo Jima, returned to recover the remains of the garrison.
The island now bears little resemblance to the wartime battlefield. The three airfields have been replaced by one huge north–south runway with adjacent hangers and living quarters. Once-familiar locations like Cushman’s Pocket, Nishi Ridge, the Quarry, the Meatgrinder, and Motoyama Village have vanished under the bulldozer, and Mount Suribachi is studded with monuments. Only the landing beaches with their familiar black ash are tangible reminders, for the veterans who make their pilgrimages, of the carnage that took place here more than half a century ago.
Aerial view of Mount Suribachi from the west in March, 2000. (Taro Kuribayashi)