Review of Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) by Tomsheehan — 22 Jan 2007

I served as the Commanding Officer of the U.S. Miliatry base on Iwo Jima in 1971-72. I have been in the caves throughout the island and I have the original translations of Gen Kuribayshi's letters to his wife and children.

I can tell you that the only historically correct fact in this movie is General Kuribayashi's name. This was a very disappointing film. It did not accurately portray the magnitude of suffering of the 21,000 Japanese who died on the island, nor the extreme difficulty encountered by the Marines in crossing the beach.

Anyone who has been to the "Black Pearl" and walked the soft sand on the beaches will know the difficulty of moving any type of vehicle out of the clear line of fire from Mt. Suribachi. The scene wherein a horse was galloping across the black sand was laughable.