75 years after storming Iwo Jima, a Lancaster County veteran recalls, ‘It was them or you’
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. (Joe Rosenthal/Released)
FEBRUARY 09, 2024 JEFF HAWKES - LNP
Heading into combat for the first time, Pfc. George Aukamp wrestled with nerves.
A farm boy from Lancaster County, Aukamp rode with about 20 other Marines in an amphibious vehicle bouncing across waves toward tiny Iwo Jima, where 22,000 Japanese defenders waited in caves, tunnels and 900 fortifications with orders to fight to the death.
Military planners thought it would take six days to secure the 5-mile-long island and its strategic airfields 750 miles south of Tokyo.
But the epic World War II battle, which began Feb. 19, 1945, raged for five weeks before the Marines prevailed.
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2024/02/75-years-after-storming-iwo-jima-a-lancaster-county-veteran-recalls-it-was-them-or-you/