Austin Bay:
“…This is why, among military historians and military planners, Iwo Jima has become one of the war’s more controversial operations. The island was supposed to serve as a staging area for invading Japan; it didn’t. Some senior officers argued that seizing the island gave B-29 bombers attacking Japan’s home islands a safe landing strip. But at the price of 6,800 dead Marines?
At a dinner party in 1998, a Marine vet told me that in 1968, Iwo Jima was still a touchy subject in the Corps. His comment paraphrased: We paid such a steep price, you just didn’t raise the issue of utility. I said, as a guy still pulling duty on joint planning staffs, the decision to invade Iwo Jima troubled me. And maybe it should. But that’s hindsight. There were several vets at the dinner. We poured another round of drinks and toasted the Marines, every damn brave one of them…”