The Battle For Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima was the only Marine battle where the American casualties, 26,000, exceeded the Japanese -- most of the 22,000 defending the island. The 6,800 American servicemen killed doubled the deaths of the Twin-Towers of 9/11. -- Cyril J. O'Brien

I just saw Letters From Iwo Jima at the theater this weekend and came home to discover my roommate had rented Flags of Our Fathers on DVD, which I also had to watch. Both are movies produced by Clint Eastwood about the battle for Iwo Jima in World War II.

Letters From Iwo Jima was the battle looked at from the Japanese perspective and Flags of Our Fathers was from the American perspective. I acutally enjoyed Letters From Iwo Jima much more. Here is a trailer of the movie:

Just today, an article came out saying that Clint Eastwood says his movies show the futility of war. I would agree that his movies show the sadness, tragedy, and horrors of war, but disagree that they show war as being ultimately futile. I looked up this definition of futility:

uselessness as a consequence of having no practical result

To say all war useless and of having no practical result is to not understand history. I also think it demeans the sacrifices made by many men on both sides of the conflict. (To be fair to Eastwood, I don't think this was the intention of his comments.) Despite the tragedy of the conflict and loss of life, I didn't view the deaths of the men on either side portrayed as being meaningless or dying for a useless cause. The conflict of Iwo Jima cannot be properly undestood outside the context of the larger war.

On a practical side, World War II had tremendous consequences for the world, both good and bad. I would call all of the after-effects -- the end of the Holocaust, liberation of Europe, submission of Japan as a militaristic nation, Eastern Europe falling under Communist control and starting the Cold War, drawing the US out of isolationalism -- all of these were HUGE practical results of World War II. Again, many effects were bad and some were good, but they all were real. I don't think any of these can be called "useless" or without consequence.

To quote my professor Walter Williams, people who say "nothing was ever settled by war" are uttering pure and utter nonsense. Armed conflict has been the primary means of resolving disputes for most of human history and has often been quite effective.

I will agree with Eastwood that the movies did an excellent job portraying how military and political occurrences sometimes set events in motion which are tragically inescapable from getting played out. The Japanese on Iwo Jima were clearly in a position in which they were destined to lose the battle and knew it from the beginning. There was also no way for either side to avoid the battle and even if there was, the Japanese would not have surrendered despite certain defeat and the Americans would not have given up a sure victory.

I am very thankful to live in a day and age where there has been relative peace in the US during my lifetime and that I have never once felt under the threat of military draft. I am also incredibly grateful that my own experience with Japan has been one of peace and friendship rather than hostility. My Japanese friends and coworkers are some of the best I've ever had. I hope for a world in which this will one day be the norm amongst all countries.

Incidentally, encouraging trade between nations is one of the best known ways to bring about this type of peace and trust. From a practical standpoint, the more two nations trade with one another, the higher the cost becomes for both to fight against each other. The best way to achieve peace is to increase the cost of war while also increasing the benefit of peace.

Letters From Iwo Jima portrayed a very human reality of men on both sides of the conflict who saw themselves fighting for the protection of their countries, families, and honor. In the movie, I was especially saddened thinking about the young Japanese soldiers who killed themselves rather than surrender, particularly because I know it to be a historically accurate portraly of what actually happened. From my Western mindset, it is difficult for me to conceive of those acts as anything but ultimately futile.

I took a History of World War II class as an undergrad and am fascinated by the history of that war and its impact on the world. Two great books I would heartily recommend are Eagle Against the Sun (about the war between the US and Japan) and A Short History of World War II. We had to read these two books for my class and they are both superb. Watching these movies especially makes me want to go back and pick up Eagle Against the Sun again.

It is a tough movie to watch, but I would heartily endorse seeing Letters From Iwo Jima if you have a chance.