In Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac, Ned Begay, Kii Yázhí’s name when he was in the Marines, mentions that he is going to Iwo Jima, and he made a mistake by stating it would be easier than the previous battles. Iwo Jima is a small island 750 miles south of Japan with volcanic activity. The U.S. wants to obtain the island so they can have an emergency stopover to Mainland Japan for a bombing campaign over the Mainland. The battle that happened there was very brutal, there were a lot of casualties, and the Japanese had the island very well defended. Begay mentions that all of his Marine buddies thought that what they saw on the islands during the Island Hopping Campaign was terrible, and the fighting there was very intense. He and his buddies believed that Iwo Jima would be no way more difficult than the battles they have already been through. It’s only four and a half miles long and two and a half miles wide, the island has been bombed a lot beforehand and since it’s small it shouldn’t be that difficult, right? No, even though it was small, the defenses were strong, and the bombing didn’t have an effect as the Japanese had their tunnels deep enough underground to barely be affected. Begay and his buddies thought at the time, ‘There was no way this little piece of volcanic garbage could be as bad as what they’d been through'(pg. 256 of e-book). He reflects back on it later on, ‘They were right. Iwo Jima wasn’t like those other landings that seemed like bad dreams. It was the worst nightmare of all'(pg. 257). Upon arrival in Iwo Jima, there had been light resistance, but the Japanese were secretly waiting further into the island deep underground in their system of underground tunnels. Begay and his buddies thought that it would be easier, and when they first arrived they thought so because of little resistance. They likely weren’t the only ones that thought this small island wouldn’t be as difficult as prior islands to obtain. Though as it remained too quiet for quite a while, it became clear something was up. A very brutal fight was going to begin. Connecting all the pieces, Begay and many other marines had already been through a lot, and little did they know that Iwo Jima would be much worse in terms of casualties than the battles of previous islands. Iwo Jima was very brutal, but there was still the most brutal battle the U.S. ever fought in the Pacific in World War 2 left, and that’s Okinawa. It’s interesting to see that a very brutal battle was initially thought of as an easy battle, even though it turned out to be much worse. In Conclusion, it is important to never underestimate something just because of its size and very initial expectations.
Sources:
Social Studies Notes
Code Talker(Some of the facts here were stated in the book)
History.com Editors. “Iwo Jima.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 29 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima.