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4 MovementtotheObjective If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. —Sun Tzu, The Art of War In late January 1945, Jim and some 2,000 men of the 3rd Battalion boarded the USS Sibley and began the voyage that would eventually take them to Iwo Jima. After leaving their camp on Maui, they made a stop at Pearl Harbor for three days where they enjoyed a last liberty. The ship lay anchored offshore, tethered to other troop ships so the men could easily go back and forth between ships and visit some of their buddies in other outts. Each company was allowed one day ashore for recreation. Just before the Sibley set sail from Pearl Harbor, Joe Rosenthal, a combat photographer came aboard ship. The morning after they left Pearl Harbor, the ofcers were summoned to the wardroom. In the middle of the mess table was a plaster model of an island shaped like a pork chop. A low murmur rose from the ofcers as they crowded around the model. Presently Lt. Col. Alexander A. Vandergrift entered the room. Someone said in a loud voice, “Attention on the deck,” and all the ofcers came to attention immediately. Vandergrift walked to the front of the room and said, “At ease, gentlemen. What you see before you is a model of the island you have been training for. Its name is Iwo Jima.” He pointed to a wall map of the Pacic behind him and explained to the gathering of ofcers the rationale for taking Iwo Jima. “For those of you who have been in other campaigns, this one will be different. The Jap general, a guy named Kuribayashi, has planned something different for us this time. According to aerial photographs, he has buried what we estimate to be the entire 20,000-man garrison underground. 38 | The Last Lieutenant All of his defensive positions are also underground. We haven’t seen much above ground, but we know they’re there. The Navy has been pounding the entire island for weeks, so hopefully a lot of his guns have been knocked out, but I wouldn’t count on it. “Now, I won’t belabor the point about how important it is to take this island. We wouldn’t be here if the brass back at Pearl didn’t think it was necessary. D-Day is scheduled for 19 February. The good news is that the 24th Marines have been assigned to regimental reserve. We aren’t scheduled to go in until D+1. The bad news is that, based on what I’ve seen and heard, we may have to go in sooner. You are now dismissed to meet with your company commanders for more specic discussions.” Jim and Lieutenants Walker and Ware followed Lieutenant Makowski up on deck, where they sat down. Makowski pulled out an enlarged map of the island and pointed to the southeastern shore. “As Colonel Vandergrift said, this side of the island is the preferred landing site. This point here,” pointing to the southernmost part of Iwo Jima, “is Mount Suribachi, the highest point on the island. The 5th Division is responsible for the left side of the beachhead next to Suribachi. The 23rd and 25th Marines will be landing to their right on Yellow and Blue beaches, next to an area called the East Boat Basin. The three battalions of the 24th Marines will be waiting offshore for the word to land when and where we are needed to reinforce either of these two beaches as the tactical situation dictates.” He spent the next hour explaining their battalion’s assignment using aerial photographs. Just as the three lieutenants thought the brieng was over, Makowski said, “What I’ve just told you is the plan, assuming we land on the beaches on the east side of the island.” Then almost conspiratorially, he went on. “Craig, if we can’t land over there, the 1st Platoon has been given a special mission. Now, it may not even be necessary, but you need to be prepared just in case we have to land on the other side of the island. If the weather and the surf are okay, then we land on the east beaches, the preferred landing site. But if on D-Day they are not suitable for landing, then the plan calls for landing over here.” He pointed to...

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