[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 55 (Friday, March 24, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S4532]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


             THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF IWO JIMA

  Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, today I want to commemorate the 50th 
anniversary of the conclusion of the World War II battle for Iwo Jima.
  Exactly 50 years ago today, the U.S. Marines successfully finished a 
fierce battle for a small dot in the Pacific that had been turned into 
one of the most heavily fortified islands in the world by a hard-as-
nails Samurai warrior Japanese Lieutenant General Kurabayashi.
  The battle for Iwo Jima had started on February 19, 1945. American 
military planners half-a-world away came up with only one way to make 
Iwo into the needed U.S. forward base: an attack right into the teeth 
of the Japanese defenses.
  The ensuing 33-day battle was the basest form of struggle--individual 
against individual, inch by inch. Artillery, mortars, naval gunfire, 
and air--the traditional combined arms of the Marines--provided only 
marginal help to the attackers. The most powerful weapon was the 
individual marine who hadto drive the enemy from gun emplacements, 
caves, tunnels, and spider holes.
  There were 2,500 marines killed on that first day--February 19, 1945. 
The death toll tripled by the time the first marine fire team fought to 
the top of Mt. Suribachi 6 days later. Mt. Suribachi was the strategic 
high point from which the defenders were pinning the marines down on 
the beaches and was the dominating feature of the entire island.
  Three reserve marines, two regular marines, and one Navy corpsman 
joined together in a moment that captured the soul of a service. They 
raised Old Glory atop that 550-foot extinct volcano. Those on the beach 
below saw the red, white, and blue flutter in the breeze. Secretary of 
the Navy James Forrestal, there with the Marine Commander Major General 
``Howling Mad'' Smith, turned and said: ``The raising of the flag on 
Mt. Suribachi means a Marines Corps for the next five hundred years.''
  I certainly hope so.
  Though organized resistance continued until mid-March, the flag 
raising, which produced perhaps the most famous and inspiring combat 
photograph of World War II, symbolized one of the hardest won victories 
of that war.
  Military historian Allan Millett has written of Iwo Jima that, ``Of 
all the unpleasant islands the marines saw, Iwo Jima was the nastiest--
prepared by nature and the Japanese armed forces as a death trap for 
any attacker.'' And so it was.
  There were 70,000 marines locked in combat on this tiny island in the 
Pacific; 5,931 died; 17,372 were wounded; Presidential and Navy Unit 
Citations were awarded and 22 marines earned the Medal of Honor.
  The fighting was so brutal, and the determination and bravery of the 
marines so stunning, that Adm. Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief of 
the Pacific Fleet, was moved to say that on Iwo Jima ``uncommon valor 
was a common virtue.''
  They fought and died so that others might live in freedom. The 
purpose of wresting Iwo Jima from the Japanese was to establish a 
forward air base on the island which served, among other things, as an 
interim emergency landing base for United States bombers making the 
long run between the Marianas to targets in Japan. More than 25,000 
airmen in the Army Air Force subsequently used Iwo Jima for emergency 
landings.
  Mr. President, I know I speak for all in saying we honor both those 
who fell on Iwo Jima and those who fought but managed to survive. I 
know it must have been a very emotional ceremony last week on the black 
sands of Iwo Jima when thousands of the survivors joined Secretary of 
the Navy John Dalton and current Marine Commandant Gen. Carl Mundy in 
paying tribute to their bravery and sacrifice and to commemorate those 
who did not return.
  I felt of that same emotion when I was fortunate to be on the Senate 
floor March 2, 1995, when Senator John Glenn was making a very moving 
tribute about the marines who fought on Iwo Jima. This was part of a 
series of speeches about that battle by Senators who have served as 
marines. Each spoke about a different aspect of Iwo Jima.
  We would all benefit from reading all these speeches and so I ask 
unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the names of the 
Senators, the date of their speech, and the page in the Congressional 
Record where their remarks can be found.
  There being no objection, the list was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD SPEECHES--IWO JIMA                
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Senator                  Date            Vol.   No.     Page(s) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senator Robb..........  Feb. 10, 1995.........    141     27  S2455     
Senator Thomas........  Feb. 13, 1995.........    141     28  S2533-S253
                                                               4        
Senator Burns.........  Feb. 14, 1995.........    141     29  S2596-S259
                                                               7        
Senator Bumpers.......  Feb. 15, 1995.........    141     30  S2732-S273
                                                               6        
Senator Heflin........  Feb. 16, 1995.........    141     31  S2774-S277
                                                               5        
Senators Chafees and    Feb. 23, 1995.........    141     34  S3034-S303
 Warner.                                                       6        
Senator Glenn.........  Mar. 2, 1995..........    141     39  S3376-S337
                                                               7        
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