Boarding Ship from Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima, Monday, 19 March 1945

The Fourth Division’s last units boarded ship. They sailed for Maui, Hawaii the next day.

 

Eventually, the mail sent during the battle caught up with Hudson, and he got to read his letters, Valentine’s Day cards, and St. Patrick’s Day cards all at once. He wrote back, “I didn’t even realize that Valentine’s day was here or over and St. Patrick’s day didn’t even come in my mind at all. I guess we were a little bit too busy for things like that on Iwo. . . .”

Bomb craters are visible in the cone of Mount Suribachi.

Excerpts are from Fighting the Unbeatable Foe: Iwo Jima and Los Alamos, now republished as a 75th anniversary edition in paperback and Kindle.