{"id":96058,"date":"2020-02-19T11:45:39","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T16:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=96058"},"modified":"2022-01-13T20:31:17","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T01:31:17","slug":"75th-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-iwo-jima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=96058","title":{"rendered":"75th Anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Fxph30lmLic\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/code><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"page-header__title\">Presidential Message on the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima<\/h1>\n<p>In the long record of American heroism in combat, few episodes capture the indomitable will and the stouthearted spirit of the American warrior better than the triumphs on the island of Iwo Jima in early 1945. \u00a0Seventy-five years later, we pay tribute to the immeasurable sacrifice of those killed in action on Iwo Jima, and we honor the heroic efforts of all who took part in one of the most costly and significant battles in our country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>By February 1945, despite American forces possessing aerial and naval supremacy, the Japanese forces at Iwo Jima were well dug-in and prepared to fight to the last man for the strategically important airfields on this small piece of land.\u00a0 This was the first time in World War II that the Japanese were defending what they considered home soil.\u00a0 For 5 weeks, our Marines and Navy sailors endured a harrowing trial by fire, fighting to secure this remote volcanic island from more than 20,000 determined Japanese soldiers.\u00a0 Nearly 7,000 Americans died in the effort.<\/p>\n<p>The fighting on Iwo Jima was some of the bloodiest and most costly in all of World War II, but it also gave rise to some of the greatest examples of patriotism and heroism in our Nation\u2019s history, inspiring Admiral Chester Nimitz\u2019s famous statement that \u201cuncommon valor was a common virtue.\u201d \u00a0Few images evoke as much emotion from the American soul as Joe Rosenthal\u2019s photo of six Marines raising our Flag atop Mount Suribachi in the opening days of the battle.\u00a0 In addition, 27 Medals of Honor\u2014the highest honor given to members of the military\u2014were awarded for actions of conspicuous gallantry during the battle.\u00a0 Of these, 22 medals went to Marines, making up more than 25 percent of the total Medals of Honor awarded to Marines throughout the entirety of the war.<\/p>\n<p>Among the heroes at Iwo Jima were non-combatants, like Rabbi Roland Gittelsohn.\u00a0 In the days following the battle, Rabbi Gittelsohn delivered a powerful, stirring message at the Fifth Marine Division cemetery on Iwo Jima.\u00a0 There, he stated, \u201cHere lie officers and privates, blacks and whites, rich and poor together. \u00a0Here are Protestants, Catholics, and Jews together.\u00a0 Here no man prefers another because of his color.\u201d \u00a0For his service ministering to men in the thick of the combat zone, Rabbi Gittelsohn was awarded three service ribbons, and today his words resonate as a powerful testament to the founding principle of our Nation that liberty and democracy are the rights of all men and women of every race, religion, and creed.<\/p>\n<p>On this anniversary, we honor those who answered the call of duty and ensured that the forces of freedom emerged victorious in that fateful battle.\u00a0 As a Nation, we remain forever indebted to the Greatest Generation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Source: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefings-statements\/presidential-message-75th-anniversary-battle-iwo-jima\/\">Presidential Message on the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima | The White House<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Presidential Message on the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima In the long record &hellip; <a title=\"75th Anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima\u00a0\" class=\"hm-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=96058\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">75th Anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima\u00a0<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":667,"featured_media":92005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/667"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96059,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96058\/revisions\/96059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/92005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}