Iwo Jima, Japan

I had the distinct honor to catch a ride to Iwo Jima on a C-130J. This island is only inhabited by a small contingent of Japanese Air Self Defense Force Personnel. You can’t visit the Island unless they invite you. It is open to tourist once a year, but I am on unsure of the date. The Airfield is the same one from World War Two and is known as Central Air Field. The US relinqueshed the airfield back to Japan in the 1960s.

As you leave the airfield, you can see a few of the items that have been excavated from the black sand island. Here are some aircraft parts.

Here are some old artillery and mortars. The island is filled with old WWII relics rusting away on the island.

And here is some recovered anti-aircraft guns with a nice rock garden in front of it. These guys are really bored out here.

We were told two things before we landed, don’t take anything off the island and don’t go in the caves. So, here’s a video of us going into a cave as soon as we were let off the base and finding souvenirs to keep.

Reunion of Honor memorial celebrating the reuniting of veterans from both sides to meet on the island 40 years later.

Here is the final destination of our march, Mt Suribachi

Here is a shot captured from American service members who initially tried to storm the mountain.

This centipede was the only living animal I saw on the island while we were there.

Okay almost there, here are the infamous black sand beaches were over 110,000 US service members lost their life taking the island.

Made it to the top of Mt. Suribachi where the memorial to the 5th Marine Division stands to this very day.

Maybe you have never heard of this Island or the Marine Division... but I am sure you have seen the raising of the iconic flag in the photo above. This is a famous memorial to the very marines that conquered this island and raised our flag on top of the mountain.

Sitting atop the highest point of the two by four mile island is the memorial that I hiked up to see. The left inscription reads, “Among the Americans who served on Iwo Jima, Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue. The right side reads, “23 Feb 1945, Old Glory was raised on this site by ,embers of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Regiment, 5th Marine Division.

Had a group of Marines catch up with me eventually and had a few re-enlistment ceremonies, very cool to witness.

Left a bottle of moonshine that I brought with me at the memorial. Japan has a tradition of leaving small gifts at grave sites, I wanted to honor these warriors in a tradition that matches the island they gave their life on.

In front of the memorial stands and cemented rod with names and dog tags of my fallen brothers and sisters from more modern wars.

Alright, time to make my last hike to the other side of the island.

Saw some small boats in the distance and was very curious. However, seeing how there was only one ride off the Island I had to press as I was running out of time.

Finally made it to Requiem Hill. This monument was constructed by the Japanese Government to honor both Japanese and American lives lost.

It was designed and built by architect Takefumi Yasushi in 1981.

The sun was getting lower and it was time to get back to the airfield, I turned around to take one last picture of Mt. Suribachi.

I ended up with a few souvenirs ^_^.