Lépine shares a poignant historical narrative surrounding the Battle of Iwo Jima, a pivotal moment in World War II. His post not only revisits iconic imagery and the immense sacrifices made but also introduces a fascinating horological artifact: a Japanese Navy pilot's watch that witnessed the conflict. This piece offers a unique blend of military history and vintage watch provenance, inviting readers to reflect on the stories timepieces can tell.
If you are an American and especially if you were a member of the US Marine Corps, this image is most likely included in every printed book you own. I am sure everyone here has seen it before.
These are the actual names of the soldiers that put up the flag after Iwo Jima was conquered by the Americans.
You might not know how difficult this battle was, my Japanese cousins weren't going to give in easily
The beach party lasted 5 weeks. Only 216 Japanese were taken alive. All the rest fought to the end.
If you were part of the landing party, you must have felt this is absolute insanity.
Beach invasions didn't get much easier after D-Day and Normandy. Marines could be easy targets with 60lbs of equipment jumping into
the water that could easily have sand bars and sink holes. No way to swim with that much weight and your buddies stepping over you.
Once you reached sand, you still had to get passed the sniper attacks.
Of course we know the landing was successful.
Iwo Jima was such a tiny island
The Allied Forces were after the airfields. It was bombed so heavily, I am surprised the coast line didn't change afterwards. There was certainly enough scrap aluminum for a several years of beer manufacturing.
This watch is a witness to the battle of Iwo Jima. It was a captive and held prisoner until not that long ago
I rescued it in 1997.
The information is a little wrong. It has Imperial Japanese Navy markings on it so it was definitely Japanese Navy Pilot that wore it.
There is an anchor for the Navy and the Japanese character "to" for Tokyo Naval Base.
It was not from the Japanese Army. The army did not use this type of watch.
The GI probably found it on the beach. I can imagine it was found on a pilot. How it survived with only cracks in the dial is amazing.
Some of the background on US Navy Commander Pierce
Same type of watch worn by this Navy Pilot.
Here is another example at the Japanese Navy Self Defense Force base in Tateyama in their heritage museum.
