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Monday, May 20, 2013

Iwo Jima

Readers send me a fair amount of material but very little about specific information from the Bakken. Information in the oil patch is very, very confidential, and held very, very close to the chest. To the best of my knowledge, I never publish confidential information either.

I seldom post links sent to me that don't have anything to do with the oil patch, global warming, or politics, but every once in awhile I get something that just seems too important or too interesting not to post.

Don just sent me one such link: the story and photographs surrounding one of the most famous photographs ever taken, that of the flag raising at Iwo Jim during WWII.

It's an incredible story and one worth reading (and reading again, if you think you already know the story).

Looking at the photograph again, I wondered why this particular photo is "so perfect." And then it struck me (and it was not mentioned in the article, as far I know -- I read it quickly).  This is why the photograph of the flag raising at Iwo Jima is "so perfect." In addition to absolutely everything else, this is the most important element: no faces are seen. They are anonymous. They represent every serviceman and servicewoman serving in the US military in WWII.

Had even one face, even if just a profile had been photographed, the picture would not have been as powerful.

Much as the tomb of the unknown soldier, of whose identity we do not know, the photograph alone does not allow us to identify those who raised the flag at that island. It is impossible for me to comprehend this one statistic:
It was the costliest battle in Marine Corps history. Its toll of 6,821 Americans dead, 5,931 of them Marines, accounted for nearly one-third of all Marine Corps losses in all of World War II.
The island is 8 square miles in size. According to the NDIC GIS map server, the city of Williston is four miles north-to-south and four miles east-to-west: 16 square miles. 

2 comments:

  1. My father survived Iwo. over the years he revealed many of the horrors, but never all. Semper Fi

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    Replies
    1. Hmmmm....that's really something...it's surprising, I suppose, he said as much as he did -- so many don't say anything, feeling that if one was not there, there was no way one could understand.

      I spent a fair amount of time among US Marines when I was in the Air Force. The esprit de corps among the marines was phenomenal; the dedication to their platoon was amazing. The relationship between their 2nd Lt and the enlisted is a unique relationship.

      My father-in-law was enlisted; was at end of WWII (signed in underage); Korea; and two tours in Vietnam. I spent many hours with him while I was on active duty, and he never spoke of his 30 years in the US Army except an occasional comment. It is a unique experience; hard to share. It probably explains the popularity of VFW posts, most of which are now fading away.

      Sometimes I think, photographs are the only way to tell the story, as it were.

      Thank you for taking time to write.

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