Comes with a hand-signed C.O.A. and a full historical research write-up.

*Limited Edition of 50*

Own your piece of history today!

Due to an incredibly high demand for display case options we are proud to offer one of our LIMITED EDITION series of HISTORIC DISPLAY CASE EXCLUSIVES. This incredible “Piece of History“ is professionally encased in a glass display case with plush padding and a tightly sealed display case. Each displays features a historical photograph and short description that corresponds to the artifact displayed. This display case measures a perfect 4.25 inches tall x 3.25 inches wide.

This series is a limited edition of 50 pieces, meaning that each “Piece of History” display is unique. The Battle of Iwo Jima infamous black landing beach sand you receive may vary slightly from the display shown. This very rare and very historic piece of WWII history is Iwo Jima “RED” sector sand that was preserved during a professional preservation of the beaches.

U.S. Marines invaded Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945, after months of naval and air bombardment. The Japanese defenders of the island were dug into bunkers deep within the volcanic rocks. Approximately 70,000 U.S. Marines and 18,000 Japanese soldiers took part in the battle. In thirty-six days of fighting on the island, nearly 7,000 U.S. Marines were killed. Another 20,000 were wounded. Marines captured 216 Japanese soldiers; the rest were killed in action. The island was finally declared secured on March 26, 1945. It had been one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history. After the battle, Iwo Jima served as an emergency landing site for more than 2,200 B-29 bombers, saving the lives of 24,000 U.S. airmen. Securing Iwo Jima prepared the way for the last and largest battle in the Pacific: the invasion of Okinawa.

Battle of Iwo Jima Battle Summary:

Almost precisely at H-hour, 0900 on 19 February, the first assault wave, with 5th Marine Division units on the left and 4th Marine Division units to the right, landed on the assigned beach sectors. The Japanese held their fore until 1000, after the Marines’ first wave was on the beaches and the covering naval gunfire had momentarily eased. The sudden, unexpected volume and accuracy of artillery and mortars clearly indicated that bombing and naval bombardment had not markedly affected the enemy. This had a devastating effect on the buildup on the beaches. All of the sectors suffered casualties, although Green and Red beaches, flanked by Japanese positions on Mount Suribachi, and the Blue beaches, fronted by enemy emplaced in the cliffs of a rock quarry, were perhaps hardest hit. Further handicapping the Marines was the instable beach, composed of steep terraces of constantly shifting black sand, volcanic cinders, and ash. This made digging in very difficult and bogged down wheeled and even tracked vehicles, causing pile-ups of men, amphibious tractors, tanks, and supplies at the waterline. These were subjected to constant Japanese artillery, mortar, and machine-gun fire. The steep beach gradient also caused a violent surf zone with which landing craft and tractors had to contend.

These difficulties notwithstanding, the landings were successfully executed and, under cover of a rolling naval gunfire barrage and close air support mainly provided by Fifth Fleet’s escort carriers, the Marines began moving off the beaches. The 5th Marine Division pushed to the northwestern shore in order to isolate Mount Suribachi, and accomplished this task within ninety minutes of the initial landings. The 4th Marine Division’s progress was much slower, however, as it proceeded toward the airfields. One of these lay directly in front of the Marines, but the second, more centrally located field, required a wheeling movement toward the northeast, which brought most of this division into a bowl-like area completely exposed to heavy Japanese fire.

By the end of D-day, nearly 30,000 personnel had been landed on Iwo Jima despite rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, the difficult terrain, and stubborn, well-coordinated Japanese resistance. Although the Marines had managed to cross the island at its narrow width and had cut off Mount Suribachi, the day’s planned phase line had not been reached while casualties mounted at an alarming rate. The beachhead remained concentrated in a triangular area roughly 4,000 yards long, and from 700 to 1,100 yards wide from north to south.

D+1 saw the landing of 3rd Marine Division, the corps reserve, and later taking up battle space between the two previously committed Marine divisions. Meanwhile, the 5th Division’s 28th Marine Regiment began its assault of Mount Suribachi, which was garrisoned by 2,000 Japanese troops and extensively honeycombed with defensive positions and tunnels, one of them seven levels deep. Bolstered by reinforcements from 3rd Marine Division, other 5th Marine Division units and the 4th Marine Division slowly continued to force their way northwest and northeast. Navy destroyers, many assigned to specific Marine units, provided direct support. Although frequently the targets of Japanese emplacments, Marine tanks, amphtracs and artillery did the same, providing mobile firepower to the engaged infantry units. Fifth Fleet aircraft continued to fly close-support missions, often dropping napalm on the deeply dug-in enemy.

Bombardment

Initial carrier raids against Iwo Jima began in June 1944.  Prior to the invasion, the 8-square-mile island would suffer the longest, most intensive shelling of any Pacific island during the war.  The 7th Air Force, working out of the Marianas, supplied the B-24 heavy bombers for the campaign.

In addition to the air assaults on Iwo, the Marines requested 10 days of pre-invasion naval bombardment.  Due to other operational commitments and the fact that a prolonged air assault had been waged on Iwo Jima, Navy planners authorized only three days of naval bombardment.  Unfavorable weather conditions further hampered its effects.  Despite this, VADM Turner decided to keep the invasion date, 19 February 1945, as planned, and the Marines prepared for D-day.

D-Day

More than 450 ships massed off Iwo as the H-hour bombardment pounded the island.  Shortly after 9:00am, Marines of the 4th and 5th Divisions hit beaches Green, Red, Yellow and Blue abreast, initially finding little enemy resistance.  Coarse volcanic sand hampered the movement of men and machines as they struggled to move up the beach.  As the protective naval gunfire subsided to allow for the Marine advance, the Japanese emerged from their fortified underground positions to begin a heavy barrage of fire against the invading force.

The 4th Marine Division pushed forward against heavy opposition to take the Quarry, a Japanese stronghold.  The 5th Marine Division’s 28th Marines had the mission of isolating Mount Suribachi.  Both tasks were accomplished that day.

The Battle Continues

On 20 February, one day after the landing, the 28th Marines secured the southern end of Iwo and moved to take the summit of Suribachi.  By day’s end, one third of the island and Motoyama Airfield No. 1 was controlled by the Marines.  By 23 February, the 28th Marines would reach the top of Mount Suribachi and raise the U.S. flag.

The 3d Marine Division joined the fighting on the fifth day of the battle.  These Marines immediately began the mission of securing the center sector of the island.  Each division fought hard to gain ground against a determined Japanese defender.  The Japanese leaders knew with the fall of Suribachi and the capture of the airfields that the Marine advance on the island could not be stopped; however, they would make the Marines fight for every inch of land they won.

Lieutenant General Tadamishi Kuribayashi, commander of the Japanese ground forces on Iwo Jima, concentrated his energies and his forces in the central and northern sections of the island.  Miles of interlocking caves, concrete blockhouses and pillboxes proved to be some of the most impenetrable defenses encountered by the Marines in the Pacific.

The Marines worked together to drive the enemy from the high ground.  Their goal was to capture the area that appropriately became known as the “Meat Grinder.”  This section of the island included three distinct terrain features: Hill 382, the highest point on the northern portion of the island; an elevation known as “Turkey Knob,” which had been reinforced with concrete and was home to a large enemy communications center; and the “Amphitheater,” a southeastern extension of Hill 382.

The 3d Marine Division encountered the most heavily fortified portion of the island in their move to take Airfield No. 2.  As with most of the fighting on Iwo Jima, frontal assault was the method used to gain each inch of ground.  By nightfall on 9 March, the 3d Marine Division reached the island’s northeastern beach, cutting the enemy defenses in two.

On the left of the 3d Marine Division, the 5th Marine Division pushed up the western coast of Iwo Jima from the central airfield to the island’s northern tip.  Moving to seize and hold the eastern portion of the island, the 4th Marine Division encountered a “mini banzai” attack from the final members of the Japanese Navy serving on Iwo.  This attack resulted in the death of nearly 700 Japanese and ended the centralized resistances of enemy forces in the 4th Marine Division’s sector.  The 4th Marine Division would join forces with the 3d and 5th Marine Divisions at the coast on 10 March.

Operations entered the final phases 11 March.  Enemy resistance was no longer centralized and individual pockets of resistance were taken one by one.  Finally on 26 March, following a banzai attack against troops and air corps personnel near the beaches, the island was declared secure.  The U.S. Army’s 147th Infantry Regiment assumed ground control of the island on 4 April, relieving the largest body of Marines committed in combat to any one operation during World War II.

Campaign results

The 36-day assault resulted in more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead.  Of the 20,000 Japanese defenders, only 1,083 survived.  The Marines’ efforts, however, provided a vital link in the U.S. chain of bomber bases.  By war’s end, 2,400 B-29 bombers carrying 27,000 crewmen would make unscheduled landings on the island 

Historians described U.S. forces’ attack against the Japanese defense as “throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete.”  In the end, Iwo Jima was won not only by the fighting spirit of the Marines, but by the meticulous planning and support provided by the Navy and Army through supply efforts, medical care, and air and naval gunfire.

Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded to Marines and sailors, many posthumously, which was the highest number awarded for any single operation during the war.

Two flag-raisings

At 8:00am on 23 February, a patrol of 40 men from 3d Platoon, E Company, 2d Battalion, 28th Marines, led by 1stLt Harold G. Schrier, assembled at the base of Mount Suribachi.  The platoon’s mission was to take the crater at Suribachi’s peak and raise the U.S. flag.

The platoon slowly climbed the steep trails to the summit, but encountered no enemy fire.  As they reached the top, the patrol members took positions around the crater watching for pockets of enemy resistance as other members of the patrol looked for something on which to raise the U.S. flag.

At 10:20am, the U.S. flag was hoisted on a steel pipe above the island.  This symbol of victory sent a wave of strength to the battle-weary fighting men below, and struck a further mental blow against the island’s defenders.

Marine Corps photographer Sgt Lou Lowery captured this first flag-raising on film just as the enemy hurled a grenade in his direction.  Dodging the grenade, Sgt Lowery hurled his body over the edge of the crater and tumbled 50 feet.  His camera lens was shattered, but he and his film were safe.

Three hours later, another patrol was dispatched to raise another, larger flag.  The battle for Iwo Jima is encapsulated by this historic flag raising atop Suribachi, which was captured on film by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal.  His photo, seen around the world as a symbol of American values, would earn him many awards including the 1945 Pulitzer Prize.

Over the years, the flag-raising has come to symbolize the spirit of the Corps to all Marines.  On 10 November 1954, the Marine Corps War Memorial, a bronze monument of the flag-raising sculpted by Felix de Weldon and bordering the northern edge of Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, was dedicated to all Marines who have given their lives in defense of their country.

Then-Vice President Richard M. Nixon, speaking at the dedication, stated. “This statue symbolizes the hopes and dreams of America, and the real purpose of our foreign policy.  We realize that to retain freedom for ourselves, we must be concerned when people in other parts of the world may lose theirs.  There is no greater challenge to statesmanship than to find a way that such sacrifices as this statue represents are not necessary in the future, and to build the kind of world in which people can be free, in which nations can be independent, and in which people can live together in peace and friendship.”