Arms, Character, Courage

"This target, like Tarawa, leaves very little except to take it by force of arms, character and courage"

Thus spoke the civilian Secretary of the Navy, James Vincent Forrestal, to the men of the Navy and the Marines, as he stood aboard the flagship poised for the invasion of Iwo Jima.

Last week, as the Battle for Iwo raged in fury, the nation learned what force of arms, character and courage meant. No battle of World War II, not even Normandy, was watched with more intensity by the U.S. people. Everyone knew Iwo's strategic importance, and everyone sensed that casualties would be high.

In Stack's drugstore in Kansas City a middle-aged man lit a cigaret with a trembling hand. "I got a boy in that 4th Division," he said, "and I don't know whether he's dead or alive. That's murder out there."

By week's end there were other great events: the flag-raising on Corregidor, the renewed air blows at Tokyo, and the battering push toward the plain of Cologne (see WORLD BATTLEFRONTS). But Iwo held top place in the minds and hearts of Americans. Henceforth, Iwo would be a place name in U.S. history to rank with Valley Forge, Gettysburg and Tarawa. Few in this generation would ever forget Iwo's shifting black sands, or the mind's images of charging marines, or the sculptured picture of Old Glory rising atop Mount Suribachi.

Said Secretary Forrestal: "My feeling is best expressed in the words of Major General Julian Smith, who wrote to his wife after Tarawa, 'I can never again see a United States marine without experiencing a feeling of reverence.'"

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