Captain Burrell responds

Over the past few years, I researched strategic aspects of the battle of Iwo Jima. In his response to my article "Breaking the Cycle of Iwo Jima Mythology," Lieutenant Colonel Brian Hanley objects to the fact that my essay evaluates the reasons given for invading the island. He studiously ignores, however, the extensive primary source research that forms the basis of the article and overlooks the vital contribution that critical analysis of past events can make to the education of current and future military leaders.

Lieutenant Colonel Hanley states that "Burrell cites no new sources that might invalidate existing interpretations." This is patently untrue. "Breaking the Cycle of Iwo Jima Mythology" cites far more primary sources from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and National Archives than any previous work on the strategic context of the Iwo Jima campaign. The fact is that most previously published secondary narratives fail even to include source citations, and none of them prove the strategic rationale for assaulting Iwo Jima with any rigor. There are, in short, no other published sources on the subject to which Lieutenant Colonel Hanley can appeal for a scholarly alternative to the article's thesis. It is exactly because strategic analysis of the battle has not been conducted in any depth that my research fills a critical gap in Iwo Jima history.

General Holland M. Smith, the senior Marine on Iwo Jima, once stated that no one story could adequately describe the battle. Although a number of books have been written on the subject, much of its history remains untold. "Breaking the Cycle of Iwo Jima Mythology" is only one take of a larger project—my book-length study, which will be published shortly. My fully developed thesis, of which the JMH article reveals only part, maintains that Iwo Jima was, for reasons well beyond its strategic value, the most important battle in Marine Corps history. The Marines who fought this "nightmare in hell" saved the Marine Corps from extinction and created a powerful national symbol that continues to strengthen the United States of America today.

Considering its horrific cost, Pacific War veterans understandably sought to label Iwo Jima as the "inevitable battle." In light of my research, journalists and historians in recent press have been far too eager to categorize it as a "mistake." Iwo Jima should not be associated with such simplistic descriptions. The story of its heroes is both tragic and triumphant, but no Marine died on Iwo Jima in vain! Semper Fidelis,