History Presentation The Battle for Iwo Jima – An Essential Island Base Bought at a High Price
Doors Open at 9am Presentation Begins at 10am
After the American conquest of Guam, Tinian, and Saipan, the US Army Air Force had bases from which it could strike the Japanese Home Islands with its fleet of B-29 Superfortresses. The Japanese-occupied island of Iwo Jima lay halfway along a direct route between these new American bases and Japan. The island served as Japanese fighter base and an early warning station that allowed Japan’s air defense forces to prepare for the arrival of American bombers.
For the US forces, the capture of Iwo Jima would eliminate these threats and provide an airfield for American fighter escorts protecting bombers enroute to Japan. It would also serve as an emergency recovery base for B-29s on the return trip from Japan. The strategic importance of Iwo Jima for both combatants set the stage for the bloody battle for the island that would follow.
After months of brilliant defensive preparation by the Japanese, three days of intensive shelling of the island by Navy ships had little effect. Three Divisions of U.S. Marines began landing on the island on February 19th, 1945. After weeks of vicious fighting the island was declared secure on March 16th. However, the victory was won at an extremely high cost, with the number of American casualties (26,000) exceeding the total Japanese casualty count (22,000).
After the battle, Iwo Jima would serve as an emergency landing site for 2,251 B-29’s returning from bombing raids on Japan, and some 1,000 fighter escort missions and 3,000 strike sorties would be flown from the island. Regardless of these results, controversy continues even today whether the benefits to air operations were worth the high cost of seizing the island.
On Saturday, November 15th, 2025, at 10am, museum Docent and retired Navy officer Rob Gale will present the full story of the Battle for Iwo Jima. This presentation will be open to all museum guests at no additional cost.