Intro Paragraph: “The [Iwo Jima] campaign had become one more akin to the First World War - a war of attrition.” (Operation). Iwo Jima was a small, insignificant island in the middle of the ocean. To the north was Japan and to the south was the Mariana Islands, which was controlled by the US. What occurred at the Battle of Iwo Jima, between February 19, 1945 and March 26, 1945, was much like a losing chess match. After some point both sides know who will win. While the Japanese held out for over a month with elaborate caves that they hid in, they couldn’t stop the ever steady crawl of the American forces. What followed the initial American invasion was the bloodiest month long battle for a tiny block of land. Letters from Iwo Jima, directed by Clint Eastwood, perfectly captures this struggle. The movie follows a young soldier, Saigo, as he experiences the events of Iwo Jima. While Saigo is fictional, his story is not, which matched many other soldiers who died on the island. Letters from Iwo Jima accurately portrays both the Japanese perspective at the Battle of Iwo Jima as well as the specific events of the battle.: Alternate Intro Out of all the places people focus on, Iwo Jima is not one of them. It’s a tiny, hot island between Japan and the Marina Islands. Despite its …show more content…
The usual methods were with a grenade or a cyanide pill. The reason for these deaths was that they were told that Americans rape and torture prisoners of war and that it is better to die then to be captured. Note that these suicides were not restricted to just Iwo Jima. Similar ritual suicides occurred at Okinawa and other battles. Letters from Iwo Jima includes these deaths when Saigo’s commander ignores General Kurabayashi orders to retreat and one of their commanders tells the company to commit suicide. This commander also asks for him to “die with honor with my men”. Everyone but Saigo and Shimizu blow themselves up with