Iwo Jima

Josef Reuther

811

The book Flags of Our Fathers takes place during World War II at the battle of Iwo Jima, a small island in the west Pacific Ocean. The book is written from the perspectives of the American soldiers attacking the Japanese defenders on the island. The American soldiers are depicted as very heroic and praised for their great deeds and sacrifices by individuals, however the perspective and views of the Japanese defenders is not shown and are depicted as the cowardly antagonists of the American soldiers that hide in a mountain and in caves.

            One example of is that the American soldiers are portrayed as the vengeful, brave, courageous and heroic liberators of Japan, but it is rather unclear exactly what the fighting cause is for the Japanese soldiers. There is clear background history on the causes for the American invasion of Japan, which is the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The book is also is written according to American events and follows the movements and advances of the U.S. troops rather than the actions of the Japanese soldiers. What is what like to be a Japanese soldier who were sometimes as young as 14 is not described and how month prior to the battle they had hallowed out Mount Surbachi turning it into a vast complex of catacombs is not mentioned in much detail.

           

            Another example of this is that I think it would be interesting to see and understand how the Japanese soldiers were brought to the island and how they must have been threatened if they were a mere 14 years of age at times to bring them to the island. The Japanese knew that they were greatly outnumbered against the great American forces and each Japanese soldier was instructed to kill at least 10 American soldiers before he too died in the battle. I think it would be interesting to hear and read accounts from people who knew inevitably that they would die in the few weeks to come. All this would contribute to the overall intensity and desperate fight that the Japanese would be fighting and would make them seem less like the cowards that they are portrayed as.

            The voice and perspective of the Japanese who fought on the island is absent in the books description of the battle of Iwo Jima even though it would contribute so greatly to the understanding of the Japanese initiative. I also believe that if an account from a Japanese soldier was included to here the voice of a Japanese combatant and his view it would change how little modern people tend to think of the Japanese who fought at Iwo Jima the last stand of the Japanese troops.