BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//National Museum of World War II Aviation - ECPv6.16.2//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.worldwariiaviation.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for National Museum of World War II Aviation
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:UTC
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:UTC
DTSTART:20240101T000000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251115
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251116
DTSTAMP:20260517T224546
CREATED:20251014T003712Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251014T003712Z
UID:28145-1763164800-1763251199@www.worldwariiaviation.org
SUMMARY:History Presentation The Battle for Iwo Jima – An Essential Island Base Bought at a High Price
DESCRIPTION:Doors Open at 9am    Presentation Begins at 10am \n  \nAfter 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. \nFor 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. \nAfter 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). \nAfter 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. \nOn 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.
URL:https://www.worldwariiaviation.org/event/history-presentation-the-battle-for-iwo-jima-an-essential-island-base-bought-at-a-high-price
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR