65th Anniversary of Iwo Jima

The March 8th CNN had an article "World War II vets make emotional pilgrimage to Iwo Jima" by Emanuella Grinberg.

The 65th anniversary of this horrendous battle in the Pacific is being commemorated right now. Since 1995, American and Japanese survivors of the battle have been returning to the 8-square mile island in a "Reunion of Honor." Death totals for the month-and-a-half struggle amounted to 22,000 Japanese and more than 6,000 Americans as the Japanese stubbornly fought against huge odds to defend the island.

Jerry Yellin had just turned 22 when he landed his P-51 fighter on Iwo Jima March 7, 1945. He'll never forget what he saw: "To one side, there were mounds and mounds and mounds of bodies of Japanese soldiers being pushed around by bulldozers into mass graves. And right behind our squadron area was the Marine mortuary, where they'd lay out the bodies, check their dog tags and fingerprint them for identification.

Mr. Yellin is now 87 and living in Vero Beach, Florida. He used to hold a grudge against Japan, but his son married a Japanese woman in 1988 and her father had been a pilot in the Japanese Imperial Army Air Service. Since then, his feelings have mellowed.

The Greatest Generation. --Cooter