MovieChat Forums > Sands of Iwo Jima (1950) Discussion > Navigating on Loose Black Lava

Navigating on Loose Black Lava

posted 9 years ago by jdemech02
4 replies | jump to latest

Hard to believe Naval intelligence never picked up on how bad the beaches of IWO JIMA was. This was a major factor in Marines getting killed 3 to 5 at a time. There is a still photo used today showing Marines on top of one another lying down in the porous sand while the live rounds blazing over their heads. It was mentioned by others that one could light a cigarette off the intensity of the bullets. I wonder why men could of parachuted on Iwo. There would of been less casualties. That Black Lava Sand costed many Marines.

Imre Demech

[–] rmh_228 9 years ago

Oh, yes, that would have been much more effective: slowly gliding to earth while the Japanese shot at them. You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Why don't you enlist and then get back to us?

[–] jdemech02 9 years ago

We dropped air-born forces on top of the Germans all around Normandy & in Italy. What would your tactic have been, drop dirt on top of the lava sand?

Imre Demech

[–] movies789 9 years ago

An airborne landing would have been absolute chaos compared to the beach landing. Absurd idea.

Hang in there, though; the Pentagon is always receptive to intriguing suggestions.

[–] fmvd2000 8 years ago

If I understand you it was not black sand it was like the ground in Hawaii right off the airport runway, it is all lumps of black jagged volcanic rock that is impossible to run across