Iwo Jima: From Combat to Comrades (2015) - full transcript

An iconic moment on a
World War II battlefield.

Victory was in the air.

But below this symbol
of hope and strength...

Out of the camera's
fleeting view...

Was a hell called Iwo Jima.

And a ferocious
battle still raging.

This is the story not
only of brutal combat,

but also of the
men on both sides

who were transformed
by their violent encounter

on Iwo Jima 70 years ago...

36 days that would define



the Japanese men
sent to defend this rock...

as well as the young
Americans who would conquer it.

I was approaching a pillbox,

and he's firing his machine gun,

and the bullets are ricocheting
off of my flamethrower.

The naval shells
were falling to the left

and right sending shrapnel

buzzing and whistling
through the air around me.

"If you're going to
hit me, just hit me!"

I shouted at the
incoming shells.

When your insides
are spilling out

onto the black sands,

nobody is yet on Earth
able to rescue you from that.

On the 70th
anniversary of the battle,



we follow survivors of
both sides back to Iwo Jima

for a Reunion of Honor...
A ceremony of peace.

Filmed by American and
Japanese documentary teams,

we take you inside
the hearts of warriors,

once enemies, now friends.

I'm Ryan Phillippe.

In the film, "Flags
of Our Fathers,"

I had the honor of
portraying one of the men

who helped raise the American
flag over Iwo Jima in 1945.

Now, I have the privilege
of telling the rest of the story,

one that is still
unfolding 70 years later.

Although the sounds of
combat faded long ago,

its echoes still reverberate.

Iwo Jima is the only
battlefield in the world

that sees former
enemies return together.

Fire!

Thank you so much.

To remember.

To reconcile.

To heal.

Only on Iwo Jima.

♪♪

In 1945, American forces

were fighting their
way towards Tokyo

to invade mainland Japan.

The Japanese knew
it, and presumed

the US would need to
capture a tiny volcanic island

called Iwo Jima... on their
inevitable path to the homeland.

While the Japanese had
no hope of holding the island,

they had time
to heavily fortify.

Their goal: inflict as
much damage as possible

while holding off a US
invasion of mainland Japan.

The American goal was
to control this speck of land.

Iwo Jima was about
getting the airfields.

The Japanese had built
two great airfields on it.

They had a lot of Zeroes
stationed there and the Zeroes

could attack our B-29s
headed to mainland Japan.

In 1944, the United States
Army Air Forces introduced

the B-29 Superfortress
to combat.

Before the war's end,
their firebombs would kill

half a million Japanese.

Yet in the months before
Iwo Jima was secured,

more than 500
crippled B-29s crashed...

or ditched in the ocean.

They needed a place for
emergency landings of B-29s

that couldn't make
it back to Guam,

and so Iwo Jima was chosen.

More important, Iwo, why?

Because, to the
average Japanese citizen,

Iwo Jima's part of the mainland,

and for us to take a piece of
the mainland 650 miles away,

it would be a tremendous
psychological blow.

So, Iwo Jima was a piece
of property we had to have.

♪♪

On December 7th, 1941,

Japan, like its
infamous Axis partners,

struck first and
declared war afterwards.

Three years before
the Battle of Iwo Jima,

the Japanese
bombed Pearl Harbor.

After the sneak attack,

young Americans
were eager to enlist.

I hated the Japanese
people, their nation.

I'd never met a Japanese man
or heard of, spoken to anybody,

but they did a despicable thing.

Of course, I had an
animosity against all Japanese.

Because all Japanese,
as far as I was concerned,

had attacked us at Pearl Harbor.

And I had to even that score.

I had to gain back what we lost.

I had to do more than that.

I had to go and
teach them a lesson.

We were told

that our freedom was
threatened to be taken away.

I wanted to join the Marine
Corps to protect that freedom,

and I never dreamed that I would
go anywhere except in America.

I thought everyone going
into the military was to protect

people from being
able to invade America.

I had no idea that we would
be going someplace else

and we would be the invader.

At 91, Woody Williams is

the last of 27 Medal
of Honor recipients

from the Battle of Iwo Jima.

But killing did not come
easily... even amidst valor.

When I was raised as a farm boy,

we were absolutely told
you do not kill anything

unless it is to... for food,
or to get it out of its misery.

So, when I went
into the Marine Corps,

it was very difficult for me
to change that philosophy...

That now you've got to
take a life of somebody,

and they had to convince you
that that somebody was an enemy.

They... if you don't kill them,
they are going to kill you.

I didn't want to fight.
I was forced into it.

I didn't hate our enemy and had
no personal interest in the war.

I had no desire to harm anyone

and couldn't understand
why we were trying

to kill each other.

To prepare for the
invasion, American air forces

pounded Iwo Jima in
the longest sustained

aerial offensive of the war...

72 days.

Our job was to kill Japanese.

That's the job. That's
the purpose of war.

The pure purpose of war
is to kill... kill your enemy.

And the Japanese were our enemy.

Yet the aerial
assault had little effect

on miles of Japanese-built

underground
bunkers and dugouts...

Only on the soldiers
and sailors in them.

Some people were buried alive

from direct hits
on their bunkers.

The ground is sand, so it
can absorb a lot of damage.

The northern areas
and Mt. Suribachi

were hardened lava rock
and were natural bunkers

that gave protection
to the troops.

There were many areas that were
hand dug from softer sandstone.

The problem with Iwo Jima is,

we were on it, they were in it.

They were in it because
they had 14 miles of tunnels.

Although American
intelligence did not know

the extent of the
Japanese defenses,

they assumed the enemy
was well-entrenched.

To soften the
island's fortifications

and to create a blockade,
the largest armada

that had ever been
assembled in the Pacific

surrounded the island's
22,000 Japanese defenders.

The US fleet carried
nearly 70,000 men

to guarantee the
capture of Iwo Jima.

It was considered that critical.

They appeared as
small dots far out to sea.

The dots became larger and
more distinct as they drew close.

I thought it was incredible.

How could they still
have so many ships?

They knew they were in
deep problems on Iwo Jima.

They couldn't get
any reinforcements.

Uh, they couldn't
get any resupply.

An island with no water.

It truly was a hellish island.

A lot of men starved to death.

They were ravaged by lice
and became just skin and bones.

We could not bury them
because the rocky floor

of the bunker was too hard.

The dead bodies stayed
underground with us.

Then the ships began firing.

The shells were hitting
about three or four kilometers

away from me and raised
so much dirt, dust and smoke

that I couldn't
see Mt. Suribachi.

It was death and chaos.

When we got onboard ship

not knowing where we were going,

they brought out a board

and they had this
thing that looked like

a pork chop on it, drawn
out and lined out on it,

and the briefer was telling us

this is where we're going to go,

and it's called Iwo Jima.

We'll probably be
gone for about five days

because the island is only

two and a half miles
wide, five miles long.

So everybody thought
it was a piece of cake,

a little two and half
miles by five miles, well,

you can walk
across that in a day.

You know, just walk.

And I think that's what we
thought we were going to do.

The beach that we're
going to land on now

looks to be very hot from here.

And, there, we've hit the beach.

We're moving away
from the half-tank now.

The men are motioning
me, starting to move forward.

The first wave of Americans

to hit the beach
faced little enemy fire.

But this was by design.

The Japanese strategy
was to get as many Marines

as possible onto land

where they could be
shot in concentration.

It was a deadly plan that
would put thousands of Marines

directly in their
enemies' crosshairs.

I'll tell you flat out, when I
was 23 years on Iwo Jima,

I didn't think I'd get
to my 24th birthday,

which was the next month.

I didn't ever think I'd
get through the war.

I landed almost 20
minutes after 9:00.

Tried to find the nearest
bomb crater that we could find.

We couldn't dig
a foxhole because

you couldn't shovel it out
faster than it came back in.

The first bomb
crater that I went into,

one of my sergeants, a
Sergeant Leonard Ash,

was already in there,

and one of his legs
was badly shattered.

He said, "Captain,
help me. Help me."

In officer's school at Quantico,

I was trained to understand that

you can't stop and concern
yourself with one man.

You got 200 plus others
that... Under your control.

So I said to Len,
"Len, I've got to go."

And with that, I took off.

And, boy, that was hard.

The defenses that would
prove so lethal to the Americans

were designed by Lieutenant
General Tadamichi Kuribayashi.

The Harvard-educated,
fifth-generation samurai knew

he would die in this
desolate, hopeless place.

He ordered each
of his men to take

the lives of 10 Americans
before being killed

or killing themselves.

Being taken alive was
an unthinkable shame.

I thought that if I
was ever captured

and sent back to Japan,
I would be executed.

I thought if captured, I
could never return home.

Everyone in my squad was
issued a single hand grenade.

It was to be used
to kill ourselves.

We knew we had lost
even before the battle began.

I don't think there
was even one person

who truly believed we could win.

Iwo Jima was Japanese territory.

It was our native land.

It was what we had
to do, so we did it.

There was no other choice.

The Japanese have
an expression, it says:

"Duty is heavier
than a mountain.

Life is lighter than a
goose down feather."

And these men are taught this

from the time they
are very young.

You must fulfill your duty.

Your life has no meaning.

So if you're given a
task, to protect this gun,

protect this
mountain, take this hill,

whatever it is, you
must fulfill your duty.

The motivation, then, to
the Japanese defenders was:

I'm here to die for my emperor.

The attitude of my
young Marines was:

"Man, let's get this
over with and go home."

I think the difference between
the Japanese and the American

was that we had a
different value of life.

It was our instinct to survive.

♪♪

Corporal Woody Williams
had much to live for...

Including a girl back home.

Her name was Ruby.

So she went to the dime store,

and bought a wee little ring

that had a wee small ruby in it.

And she gave me that ring

and told me that, every
time you look at this ring,

you think of me.

My assistant
flamethrower/demolition man,

he had a ring that
his dad had given him

before he left for
the Marine Corps.

Vernon and I, we made a
pact that if anything happened

to either one of us,
we would take the ring

and send it back to the family.

He'd return mine to Ruby
and I'd return his to Dad.

Well, never thinking that
that would ever happen.

On March 6th, Woody
Williams was hit.

A corpsman removed still-hot
shrapnel from Woody's leg

and ordered him
back to an aid station.

Woody refused.

He had already
lost close friends.

He was not about
to leave this fight.

Vernon was running by
me still in the advance,

and he was running
by me and a...

and a, mortar came in
and hit him dead center.

So I ran to him to see if
he was gone, and he was.

He was already gone.

And that's when
I took the ring off.

To me, that was the worst
moment on Iwo Jima 'cause he was...

He was closer than my
brothers, really, yeah.

After the war was
over, I came home

and I delivered
that ring to his dad.

You would've thought I
was delivering Fort Knox,

because the... the impact
that it had upon that family.

It's very common knowledge
that on the battlefield,

you don't hear the
one that gets you.

And I didn't hear this one.

One thing I clearly remember,

I was lying there on
a stretcher and, uh,

some Marine said, uh,
"Do you want a cigarette?"

What I remembered was when
John Wayne was wounded,

he always had a
cigarette. So I said, "Yes."

So he gave me a cigarette
and I smoked about half of it.

The bleeding didn't stop,

the pain didn't stop, so
I haven't smoked since.

Captain Snowden talked
his way back into combat,

despite his wounds,
only to be wounded again

while his company
hammered against a stronghold

called Hill 362, one of Iwo
Jima's toughest defenses.

To the south,

a natural defense point of
the island was Mount Suribachi.

But Kuribayashi had added
a seven-story fortification

inside the 556-foot mountain.

Taking this heavily
defended highpoint

was one of the
Marines' first objectives.

And this single
mission would result

in the most iconic
photograph of World War II.

On the fifth day of combat,
a 40-man patrol was given

a daunting order:
scale Mt. Suribachi,

overtake the well-entrenched,
heavily-armed enemy, and...

If they survived... plant an
American flag atop Iwo Jima.

The men reached
the top of Suribachi,

but the banner they flew was
too small to be clearly seen.

The battalion commander
ordered a larger one to be raised,

one that could be seen
across the entire island

and by all the
ships surrounding it.

This second, larger
flag had been carried

across the Pacific...
from Pearl Harbor.

♪♪

February 23, 1945.

A single photograph
captured the most famous

and reproduced
image of World War II,

and perhaps of all time.

It's difficult to overstate the
impact this picture had on

the war effort
here in the States.

Yet the iconic photo
was almost never taken.

Associated Press
photographer, Joe Rosenthal,

was positioning himself for
the shot on top of Mt. Suribachi

when the second flag
was suddenly being raised.

Barely able to swing his
camera up, he snapped the shot.

And for 1/400th of a second,
time and history stood still.

Rosenthal had been
rejected from military service

due to his poor eyesight.

He would later say he was
lucky to catch the perfect shot.

Because the second
flag went up about noon,

the light gave the
figures sculptural depth.

Rosenthal also noted that
the 20-foot pipe the men found

for a flagpole was heavy,

and that the effort it
took to lift it imparted

a feeling of action.

He was always modest about

his Pulitzer Prize-winning
photo, saying,

"I took the picture of
the flag being raised,

but the Marines took Iwo Jima."

Our morale was very
low at that point in time.

It really was, because we
had lost so many people.

And I think that really
boosted our spirit.

The US flag went up on
the afternoon of the 23rd.

We felt that
Suribachi had fallen.

Since Iwo Jima was
my assigned place to die,

my only wish
was to die instantly

and not die a
horrible, slow death.

I hoped that I wouldn't
get hit in the legs or arms,

but get killed right away
with a shot to the head.

Despite this photo
becoming synonymous

with American victory,

it was taken on the fifth
day of the 36-day battle.

Thousands more sacrifices
were yet to come before victory

could truly be claimed.

There were about 800
pillboxes on Iwo Jima.

They were very effective
because they usually were placed in

a position where one pillbox
could see another pillbox,

and you couldn't get to
one without the other one

being able to see you.

They had automatic weapons.

They had what they called
a Nambu which was, uh,

like our .30 caliber
machine gun.

So they had all the advantage.

In trying to approach
the pillboxes,

that's where we lost
so many of our Marines.

And that's where, uh,

we lost the... the six Marines

that were in my unit
when we hit the shore.

And by the day the flag
went up, I had lost those.

I didn't have anybody left.

My commanding
officer said to me,

did I think I could knock out

any of the pillboxes
with a flamethrower.

I said, "I'll try."

And I went out and
grabbed a flamethrower

and strapped it on and said,

"Let's go get...
Let's go get 'em."

Alone in what the Marines
called "The Killing Zone,"

completely exposed
to Japanese crossfire,

Woody Williams spent
four hours taking out

seven enemy pillboxes
with his flamethrower.

I was approaching a pillbox,

and he's firing his
Nambu, and the bullets...

are ricocheting off
of my flamethrower.

Now, fortunately,
they ricocheted up

instead of down, or
I wouldn't be here.

By crawling forward,

I got to a point where
he couldn't lower

his machine gun anymore
and he couldn't get me.

And I got him.

Approaching another pillbox,
and they came charging out.

I still had some fuel left,

so I hit 'em with that flame.

They were all burning.

There's nothing like the
odor of a human being burned.

I think my life was defined

by those four
hours, unknowingly.

Our mission first was
to help the Marines

to strafe the island. We
dropped 500-pound bombs

a yard at a time
wherever there was a yell...

Yellow marker on
the Japanese side,

and we dropped
napalm into caves.

The night I was hit I saw
a flash of light and heard

a crash and rolling thunder
just like in a summer storm.

Then the shell
crashed into the ground.

I felt the wind blowing
on my hands and legs,

but it hurt like being
hit by a baseball bat.

I struggled to breathe
and couldn't get to my feet.

The naval shells were
falling to the left and right

sending shrapnel
buzzing and whistling

through the air around me.

"If you're going to
hit me, just hit me!"

I shouted at the
incoming shells.

He woke up in a field
hospital and he learned that

a US Army soldier with
the 147th Infantry Regiment

had a dog with him.

And the dog had
sniffed out Akikusa

at the entrance to the cave.

And instead of shooting him,

this American
soldier pulled him out.

And they tended his wounds
and gave him food and water.

To an American,

it is an honor to
become a prisoner-of-war

after doing one's
best in battle.

In Japan, there is no worse
shame than becoming a POW.

During the combat phase,

we captured fewer
than a thousand POWs,

and most of those
were so badly injured,

they could not
take their own life,

no matter how much
they may have wanted to,

to keep their pledge,
they simply couldn't do it.

I was rescued by an American

who showed no
animosity towards me.

I was his enemy,
but he saved me.

I wonder if a Japanese soldier
would have done the same

for a wounded American?

I don't think so.

I think if the situation
were reversed,

a Japanese soldier would
have left his enemy to die.

The American fighting
man was unique.

There is something about
their national character

that makes them merciful.

It is to an American
that I owe my life,

and I wish to thank
them in person.

When he returned to Japan,

Akikusa made it to
his family's home,

and his mother must've
thought he was a ghost.

He had never
written to his parents

the whole time he was a POW.

He was too ashamed.

His parents told him
there's a funeral going on

at the elementary
school for you right now.

The town was
holding a joint funeral

for all 15 young men

who'd died in the war,
who never came home.

So Akikusa ran to
the elementary school.

He quietly walked
up, removed his photo

and the funeral box that was
supposed to contain his bones,

and sat in the back
of the gymnasium

and attended his own funeral.

After 16 lethal days of combat,

the airfields were
finally secure enough

to allow American
P-51 pilot, Jerry Yellin,

and his fellow aviators
to land on Iwo Jima.

We landed with an open canopy,

and when we cut our speed down,

I looked out across my wing,

and I saw mounds and
mounds and mounds

of dead Japanese bodies
being pushed into mass graves.

And trucks were lined
up full of American bodies.

And I smelled a smell
that I couldn't identify,

an overwhelming,
overpowering, sick,

sweet smell of dead... bodies,

and I'll never forget that.

According to one Marine,

"Victory was never in doubt.

"Its cost was.

"What was in doubt,
in all our minds,

"was whether there
would be any of us left

"to dedicate our
cemetery at the end...

"or whether the last Marine

would die knocking out
the last Japanese gunner."

I landed with 231.

36 days later, when
we walked off the island,

there were 99 of us to walk off.

As the battle ended, Fleet
Admiral Chester Nimitz

described the Americans
who fought on the island

in words that would be
engraved in military history:

"Uncommon valor
was a common virtue."

We achieved our objective,

which was to capture
the island and...

And get those
airfields up and running,

and it turned out to have
tremendous strategic value

in more ways than one.

While the Battle for Iwo Jima

did not end the
war in the Pacific,

it hastened Japan's
ultimate surrender.

The nation was devastated

by losing its first
piece of homeland.

And with the capture of
Iwo Jima's two airfields,

American planes
could safely take off

and return from
bombing raids over Japan.

♪♪

Still, the island had
one more part to play

in the history of World War II.

On August 6, 1945,

a B-29 called the Enola Gay

took off from Tinian Island,

carrying the first atomic bomb.

She was joined by two
escort planes before heading

to the target of Hiroshima.

Their rendezvous point?

Iwo Jima.

I think we saved

a lot, a lot, of lives,

probably including my own,

by the use of the
atomic weapon...

As cruel as it sounds
then and sounds now.

If we had found it necessary
to invade the homeland,

the casualties, I think, would
have exceeded a million.

♪♪

When the war ended in August,

uh, it was a
tremendous celebration.

I mean, it really was.

You talk about people
running out and firing

their weapons into the air,
that... that's what we did.

A month after the war ended,

22-year-old Herschel "Woody"
Williams was summoned

to Washington, DC by
his commander-in-chief.

In recognition of the four
hours he spent single-handedly

taking out so many
deadly enemy pillboxes,

he was awarded
the Medal of Honor.

He reports being more nervous
meeting President Truman

than facing the Japanese.

The president, in my photo,

has his left hand holding
me by the back of the neck,

and I've always said to
myself he's trying to keep me

from jumping out of my
shoes is what he's trying to do...

'cause I was just
shaking tremendously.

I have asked myself, why me?

Two Marines gave their
lives protecting mine.

So I have said ever since I
have received it... it's theirs.

I just wear it in their honor.

November the 5th, 1945, they
handed me a piece of paper

that says it was a discharge.

Go back to where you
were prior to World War II.

Well that's impossible.

You can't, in 24 hours,
switch the switch on

and switch the
switch off, to say okay,

everything is forgiven,

I don't have to think
about this anymore.

Well, it never goes
away. It's always there.

And it's there today.

♪♪

Despite the battlefield ghosts

that stalk both Japanese
and American survivors,

these are the only
former enemies of any war

that come together to
honor the fallen of both sides.

I think Iwo Jima
was unique because

such a small
piece of real estate,

eight square miles only, with
nearly 100,000 troops on it

that so many casualties
could occur in such a short time

that it stands out as a very
unique battle in our history.

On the island of Iwo Jima,

there is a memorial across
from the landing beaches.

The granite shrine is
inscribed in English on the side

facing the ocean and in
Japanese facing inland.

It reads: "We
commemorate our comrades,

"living and dead, who fought
here with bravery and honor,

"and we pray together that
our sacrifices on Iwo Jima

will always be remembered
and never be repeated."

In 1995, Lieutenant General
Larry Snowden spearheaded

an annual event that would
be called The Reunion of Honor.

At this most unusual gathering,
both sides would come together

on Iwo Jima for a ceremony
of peace and remembrance.

But since the United
States had returned Iwo Jima

to Japan in 1968,

the general now had
to seek permission

from his former adversaries.

Young Japanese bureaucrats said,

"We don't think it's a good
idea because you Americans

"would use this
as an opportunity

to crow over
your victory there."

I not only pledged my
body, but my whole soul...

to them that that
would not happen.

20 years after the first annual
Reunion of Honor on Iwo Jima,

survivors from both sides return

for what may be their last time.

Some men make the
trip back to Iwo Jima

to find light in the
shadows of war.

Others have lived with
the darkness for decades.

16 guys that I flew with,

I can tell you their names

and how they died, and
what day it was, and...

I was discharged a
captain in December 1945.

And there was no detraining
from the killing school

that I went through.

Killing people... it's
not human nature

to kill one another.

He was in a pretty bad way.

I thought about
suicide every day.

I had no purpose in life.
I spoke to the 16 guys.

I didn't sleep at night.

I was a basket case.
It was undiagnosed.

There was nothing known
then of what is now called

post-traumatic stress disorder.

For Jerry Yellin,

a most unlikely family event
helped him recover from

the war that haunted him

and the hatred
lingering in his heart.

On March 5th, 1988,

nearly 43 years to
the day that I landed

on Japanese soil on Iwo Jima...

I watched my son marry
a Japanese woman.

The bride's father
was a kamikaze pilot.

I hated the Japanese people,
and then we became family.

We have three
Japanese grandchildren.

It's a very emotional
moment for me to think...

of what I thought then
and what I think now

about other human beings...

'cause we're all the same.

On the occasion of
the 70th anniversary

of the battle, over
30 of the remaining

American survivors returned
to the Western Pacific.

First of all, I want to
welcome all of you here.

This is the biggest group
we've had since 1995.

For some, it is
their first trip back

since their governments
sent them seven decades ago.

For most, it will
be their last...

I wanna make peace with myself.

And I wanna meet
the guys from Japan

and just shake their hands

and give them a hug
and say "It's okay.

We were together now."

En route to Iwo Jima,

the group stops on Guam
for historical seminars

and some last-minute orders

for the single day they
will have on the island.

Do you understand,
that when you go

to Iwo Jima with this group,

we are going up there
for the primary mission

to salute those on both sides
who gave their lives there.

We have never had a
single incident on-island

that refutes my
promise to the Japanese.

Now, I will tell you,

a retired Navy
dentist showed up,

and he was wearing a
necklace of Japanese gold teeth

that he had extracted
on the battlefield.

And when I saw
that, I said to him,

"Doctor, take that necklace off.

"And if I see it
again on this trip,

we're gonna drop
you wherever we are."

He said, "You can't do that."

And I said, "Well, try me."

There is a need in some

to go back to where they fought.

And not only to go
back by themselves,

but to take their children
or their grandchildren back

and say, "Listen, this is
where I fought for freedom,

this is where I
fought for America."

In previous years,

Medal of Honor recipient
Woody Williams had refused

to go to Reunions of Honor...

In protest over
the US government

returning the island to Japan.

But at the urging
of his grandsons,

Woody is going
back for the first time.

I anticipate being

a little nervous
when we get there.

I'm more anxious...

about the flag that
I'm going to take back.

I'm going to take a flag back

that belonged to a Marine

that brought it
home as a souvenir.

But I'm a little anxious

of how they're
going to receive that.

It's a very special
day because we have

a very special Japanese
visitor with us today.

We have one of the
Japanese defenders

who is here with us today.

This is Mr. Tsuriji Akikusa.

Mr. Akikusa is
one of the very few

surviving Japanese
combat survivors

of the battle for Iwo Jima.

Dan, ask him where
he was wounded.

And on what date was he wounded,

and how was he taken prisoner.

He and seven other
men were delivering

a message above ground,

running through the
trenches on March 1st, 1945,

when they were
struck by a naval shell.

It ripped off the tips of his
fingers on his right hand.

He had a piece of shrapnel

tunnel right
through his left thigh.

And shrapnel embedded
in his lower back

and throughout his body.

He said he was covered
in wounds, with lice,

and fleas and maggots
eating his open wounds.

He said that there was no
one available to help him.

All the other Japanese
had been killed

or burned alive in the
caves and bunkers.

He felt he was completely alone.

Thank you very much.

If you ask Mr. Akikusa,
"When were you captured?"

He will say, "I was rescued.

I was saved."

And he said, "If I could
meet that American soldier,

"I would thank him.

"Because of his kindness,

"I got married, I
had kids, I had a job,

I had a wonderful
home, I have grandkids."

And he said, "I have
lived a wonderful life."

And he said, "It's
because of that soldier."

Thank you and good
morning, ladies and gentlemen,

once again, welcome
you to... Flight 2274,

with service to Iwo Jima, Japan.

Is that it?

Oh, my goodness, that's it.

That's it.

This is where we
would have gone in.

This area, straight
across there.

That's where you
would've gone in?

Yeah.

For a survivor who's
going back the first time,

he suddenly gets
his memory refreshed

about what he did and
how many buddies he lost.

And that's the first thing
that pops into your mind,

is the friends that you lost.

Good morning,
ladies and gentlemen.

We'd like to welcome you all

to the island of Iwo Jima.

Local time here is
approximately 7:30.

It is hard to put my
feelings into words...

but perhaps there is 1% of me

that is happy about going back.

Every time, I'll have
one or more veterans

who come to me and say,

"General, I didn't
wanna make this trip.

"I didn't think I wanted to
ever see this place again.

"But I'm so glad I did.

"I now have a
better appreciation

"of where I lost my buddies.

"I have a better appreciation

of what this whole
thing was about."

And then he puts his
head on my shoulder,

and he cries.

And last year, when
I left that hangar

to get on the airplane,
my lapel was wet

from tears from those guys.

♪♪

Let's go over where
the flag marker is.

That's where the flag went up.

Thank you, sir.

Awesome. You got it?

Okay

Hoo-ah!

I'm glad to get back

to see the difference

in what it looked
like when I was here

and... and the difference

in the picture that
I had in my mind

In my mind, it was more hilly,

it was barren, there were
no... Nothing to hide behind

And it doesn't
look anything like

what I thought
it would look like

So I'm happy to be back

and yet sad

because I lost some very close

very close Marines
here 70 years ago

Marines don't cry...
at least in public

Had to flick 'em off,
sneaky you know

Remembering how thirsty he was,

Tsuruji Akikusa
shared a sip of water

with his comrades
who remain here

It is a time of peace

so I want to pray for
the souls of the dead

It feels like I am returning

to my lonely hometown

I am not excited or happy

about returning to Iwo Jima

I feel deeply saddened

and can never forget the battle

When I go back to Iwo Jima

and I put my feet on
the black sands again,

if I close my eyes

and put my hands over my ears,

I can still hear gunfire,

rifle shots

It's there

And I remember it very well

You have to go back and
remember the young Marines

that I lost there

Some of whom died in my arms

And it's an experience

that I don't really
want to forget

We're very glad that you're here

Thank you

It's a great day

Thank you We appreciate
very much your participation

Returning to Iwo Jima

takes a physical
and emotional toll

on men now in their 90's

Yet survivors from
both sides of the Pacific

are beckoned to come
together on the former battlefield

for The Reunion of Honor

♪♪

94-year-old Lieutenant
General Larry Snowden

is the highest-ranking
American survivor

of the Battle of
Iwo Jima alive today

He has spent the last 20 years

working with the
Japanese government

to ensure that families
from both sides of this battle

can return to honor the dead

Japan only opens the
island one day a year...

And only for this reunion

You can't just
jump on an airplane

to go to Iwo under
any circumstance

They just... they don't allow it

You have to understand
that ancestor worship is vital

in the Japanese culture

and the only way
bereaved families in Japan

can get to Iwo to
worship their ancestors

is to go to The Reunion of Honor

Today's commemorative ceremony

is an exceptional
event in the world

as it unites former enemies

to pray for everlasting
friendship and eternal peace

I'd like to begin by thanking
the Japanese government

for hosting the Reunion of Honor

and for their valued
partnership and friendship

United States Marines
are particularly proud

of the relationship that we have

with the Japanese people

Iwo Jima is the only place

in the world where
former adversaries

can come together to
co-host a memorial service

When I first stood
on this island,

in February of 1945,

our two nations were at war

As I stand here, March of 2015,

the atmosphere of hatred
has changed to friendship

Domo arigato.

Iwo Jima is basically
a tomb to the Japanese

We need to remember
that it is a graveyard

And for every step you take,

there could be a
Japanese soldier

lying right beneath your feet

I just felt a great
feeling of relief

of the end of the war

The war was over for me finally,

and it is

I really feel that I'm in the
prime of my life at age 91

My goal... I would like to be

the last man standing who
served his country in WWII

Each year that we make

this return trip to Iwo Jima,

we appeal to those
going on the trip

that, if they have any souvenirs

that their family members
have brought home

from Iwo Jima, to take them back

and give them back
to the Japanese

70 years and so many days ago

a Marine collected
a soldier's flag

A Japanese soldier's flag

If we can find family,
it should go to family

In Japan, if grandchildren
receive something like this,

they would be proud
of treasure like this

Can he tell us of
some of the meanings

on the flag?

It seems like
people's names on it

Names

The Japanese got these
flags from their families

They call them yoseykaki,

which means "flag
with writing on it"

And the Japanese family members

and friends and
neighbors and co-workers

would write wishes on there

Usually it's written

for whom it belongs to

This is the person's
name, most likely

Most likely Takimoto

Okay

It was such a pleasure
to return the flag

Thank you very much

To meet somebody that
was on the other side...

I can't understand him,
he can't understand me,

but we can still be friends

And so I think I made
a new friend today

When Mr Akikusa
returned to Japan,

he was miraculously able
to find the flag owner's son,

who was only three
when his father died

The Takimoto family
was grateful for the return

of their family's
long-lost treasure

The Prime Minister of Japan

Ladies and gentlemen

What lessons do the younger
generation need to know

from the Iwo Jima experience?

I want them to look
at the War Memorial

and understand that
what they have today

is because young men like those

did what they did
when they did it

And their status
today as free citizens,

capable of making
their own decisions

and speaking the
language they choose,

did not come about
as a pure gift from God

Freedom has to be paid for

If they want their children to
enjoy freedom as they have,

they may have to
step up to the plate

and pay a price for it

I am often asked

was it worth it?

My answer is, well,

it depends on where
you sit in the equation

If you lost your son there,

you say, "No, it's not worth it"

If you step back and
think in broad terms

of what it did to bring the
war in the Pacific to an end,

yes, it was worth it

Four out of every five men
who fought on this island

would either be
killed or wounded

28,000 died
protecting or seizing

this piece of volcanic rock

Thousands of Japanese
are still entombed here

I have one request

Please maintain the peace
for even one more day

Without peace, the loss of

over three million of
my countrymen's lives

is meaningless

I feel like it was their lives

that were used to secure peace

If there is no peace,

what did all of them die for?