Iwo Jima

[Sergio Natali]

Originally Posted by alanint

The battle didn't end there. An old friend who was a Marine on Iwo in the 1950's tells of an incident where routine renovations uncovered the entrance to an underground Japanase hospital. The cave entrance had been blown shut during the battle and when rediscovered, dozens of mummified Japanese soldiers were discovered inside. Upon seeing this, one of the Japanese soldiers who was part of the contingen stationed on the Island along with the Americans became unhinged and began a shooting spree, specifically targeting uniformed Marines. Although armed with Garands, etc., none of the Marines had ammunition!

Although the Japanese soldier was eventually neutralized, my friend told me that he never went anywhere again, no matter the duty station, without some ammunition on him. Regulations be damned!

Thanks, another, probably one of the many unknown pages of history.

Sergio