Iwo Jima Memorial, WaKeeney KS - World War II Memorials / Monuments on Waymarking.com

The Memorial plaque reads:
"Iwo Jima Memorial
In 1945, as the buildup for the invasion of Japan began, one tiny island is the stepping stones of islands that lead to Japan was left. Iwo Jima, known as the "Black Pearl of the Pacific", was a tiny volcanic island located 650 miles south of Tokyo. It housed two airfields from which Japanese fighter plans picked off crippled American planes that were returning from raids on Japan and nearly out of fuel. As marines stormed ashore, they met withering fire from cross-linked machine gun lanes and pre-ranged artillery. One month of bombardment by sea and air had done little to diminish the firepower coming from the Japanese caves and reinforced concrete bunkers. Four days, ten hours, and thirty-one minutes into the invasion, the first American flag was raised on Japanese territory atop Mt. Suribachi. A second, larger flag was raised two hours later and provided the epic photograph by Joe Rosenthal (depicted here). This flag rallied unprecedented support for the war effort among the troops at home. The capture and securement of Iwo Jima provided not only an emergency landing strip for crippled B-29s returning from raids on Japan, but it cleared the way for the launch of the "Enola Gay" toward Japan with the first atomic bomb abroad. Incidentally, the "Enola Gay" was built at Wichita, KS. At the end of thirty-four days the death toll averaged one a minute for the first 75,000 Marines and 22,000 Japanese troops fighting there. One out of three Marines were lost, and 1803 Japanese were taken prisoner. Of the 383 Congressional Medals of Honor awarded in WWII, 24 were earned at Iwo Jima. This Memorial is dedicated to the brave souls that fought and died that day and to pay homage to those that fought that day and lived to tell about it. Today the majority of those men have been laid to rest. WaKeeney, like many other communities across this nation, is paying or have paid a final tribute to those survivors. Two of those survivors are buried in our local cemeteries. This Memorial also honors the service and sacrifice of all brave men and women of that generation, who gave of themselves to save the world. Iwo Jima was only one battle but it was a turning point in the war and this Memorial is to thank them for the sacrifice that they made toward the war effort. (A big "Thank You" to those that made this Memorial & plaque a reality)".

Date of Dedication: 11/09/2007 Property Permission: Public Access instructions: Parking available at the convenience store immeidately adjacent. Access times: From: 7:00 AM To: 10:00 AM Website for Waymark: [Web Link] Location of waymark: I-70 exit 128 WaKeeney, KS USA 67672 Commemoration: Those who served in the Battle of Iwo Jima

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Date Logged Log User Rating   05/01/2020 KennyV visited it 03/13/2016 happyheartcacher visited it 12/22/2014 QuadWrays visited it 09/02/2013 ornith visited it 05/03/2012 mamajhk visited it 09/10/2010 kJfishman visited it 06/11/2010 Queens Blessing visited it

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