Trump faces a wrenching choice
Iwo Jima and the danger of 'boots on the ground'
On February 27, 1945, CBS Radio’s Don Pryor reported from the flying bridge of the U.S.S. Eldorado as Marines fought to take the Japanese-controlled island of Iwo Jima.
The operation’s overall commander, Navy Vice Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, and Lt. Gen. Holland M. Smith of the Marines, put a positive spin on the bloody battle.
“To me,” Turner told the reporter, “the most impressive incident of the whole campaign so far as the raising of the flag on the top of Suribachi volcano Thursday morning by men of the 28th Marines. It affected me very deeply — and I’m sure that General Smith felt the same way…”
Smith then saluted the patriotism and esprit de corps of the Marines who captured “that extinct volcano rising 556 feet, with sheer cliffs around the sides.”
Turner added, “For my part, General, I hope the American flag always flies there; that it’s never allowed to come down.”
There’s no hint in the CBS Radio report of the titanic clashes b…
