Today.
Seventy years ago.
February 19th.
The 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions began their assault on a tiny island in the Pacific.
At the end, about 7,000 Marines and 21,000 Japanese had their lives end on that island… An island called Iwo Jima.
Remember… for our schools don’t.
Masako and Spam Musubi 
7000 and 21000..Yet children and teens these days complain about trivial things, amazing.
I totally agree, Andy.
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Never forget … that’s how history is kept alive. It’s the blogger’s job now.
Thank you for visiting and it is our job…
Sadly our children do not know. Our schools do not teach such things as history, they teach something called social studies instead which might have the odd historical mention here or there. World War i was a myth, World War II a fantasy, Korean War a strange story. There is little mention of the ancient wars of Greece and Rome, nor of any other from then till now. How do you learn the lessons of history if you have no concept of what happened? No wonder things are the way they are now.
I agree with you wholeheartedly, Aquila. And I am grateful they knew Old Man Jack. Perhaps they won’t remember much of him as they grow older, but I bring him up once in awhile with them so they will… “Oh yeah… Papa used to talk about him and the nightmares he had…”
THank you Koji.
Thank you for the visit!
Our schools tend to teach what they wish.
Unfortunately, it is snowballing… especially in California. They have chapters on “PC” topics but perhaps a couple of paragraphs on WWII. It is so sad.
Agreed!!
Something like a bad Cliff note, for those of us who lived long before this digital world.
Strange, isn’t it, how educators seem to draw a veil over acts of war? They never delve deeper, it seems, than victor and vanquished; a reluctance I guess, born of a desire to avoid detailed discussion because, although history may be written by winners, no morals may be drawn from the manner in which victory was attained. We need clear lines: Titanic gets discussed incessantly, for just this reason. No-one can argue with the ethics of the sea.
You expressed your thoughts very well, sir. I sure wish I could write like that! And our children’s textbooks… they are so focused on individual “rights” but they lose sight of America.
WWII seems like ancient history to students of today. When we take them to see and hear survivors of the Holocaust, they can hardly believe it. When I share my memories of what it was like being a teenager during the war here in the US, they cannot relate to those feelings. Perhaps, a class dealing with wars in which the US was involved would be a good choice.
Thank you for stopping by, Patricia, and your good thoughts. I’m afraid many, many children are unaware of WWII and its horrors nowadays. Some aren’t even aware of Iwo Jima but are led to believe we were the evil ones in WWII.
Yeah, been there. What a Godforesaken place. Other than location vis a vis B-29’s and taking out the Motoyamas, not much in the way of redeeming qualities. Fwiw, we gave it back to Japan during View Nam war in return for use of some bases in Japan (1968 I believe). When you go ashore on those landing beaches, you understand the trouble the Marines had (loose volcanic soil); the good news was that the mortars burrowed in and the blast was minimized.
Thank you for your comment, sir. You have been there? My gosh… My neighbor who passed away two years ago now was a Marine. He did not fight on “Iwoto”, as it is now called, because he was recovering from his wounds…but heard first hand from those that came back the havoc the volcanic sand caused as you point out. He was told motorized vehicles were sitting ducks as when a shell would explode, it would send up talcum powder-like volcanic ash, choking off the air clearner and therefore the engine. Some of his fellow Marines burned to death when their vehicle got hit.
Remembering is now part of my life.
At least you can remember, Hilary. I think I am headed down the same path my father has been taking with respect to memory…
Awesome blog you havve here
Thank you, Dinika. What country are you writing from?