Nopuko's Store: Micronesia Books WW2 Books Micronesia Shirts Island Videos Cell Phones & Service Computer & Video Games Cameras & Photo		By Steve Limtiaco, Pacific Daily News The U.S. veterans who fought during the battle of Iwo Jima 62 years ago are the stars of that sulphurous rock, and they autographed enough war books and memorial pamphlets on Iwo Jima last week to prove it. Fourteen Iwo Jima veterans were part of an anniversary trip to Iwo Jima last Wednesday, organized by Military Historical Tours, with U.S. and Japanese military officials. Guam is the gathering place for the annual tour, and visitors also toured Guam sites before and after the Iwo Jima trip. They also attended a barbecue held at the 3rd Marine Division Association Headquarters and Pacific War Museum that was hosted by Marine John Gerber, who is the vice president of the association. It was Gerber who walked the length of the island pulling a sign several years ago to get Route 1 renamed from "Marine Drive" to "Marine Corps Drive." Two commercial airliners brought visitors from Guam to Iwo Jima on Wednesday, and a Japanese military plane brought in Japanese veterans and their families.
		Marines from Okinawa shuttled visitors around Iwo Jima during the daylong visit, as the USS Harpers Ferry circled just off Mount Suribachi, waiting for a hovercraft to bring equipment and personnel back to the ship. Mount Suribachi is where Marines and a Navy corpsman raised a large U.S. flag on Feb. 23, 1945 -- a few days into the bloody, monthlong battle. The flag-raising was the subject of a prize-winning photo that was the model for the Marine Corps War Memorial in the nation's capital. Visitors said they felt fortunate to have the rare opportunity to visit the island, and it was a unifying experience for military veterans, regardless of when they served or in which branch of the service.	Steve Limtiaco/ Pacific Daily News/ slimtiaco@guam Remembrance: U.S. veterans take part in a memorial ceremony last week on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. U.S. and Japanese veterans, their families and other visitors flew to the island to take part in the 62nd anniversary tour.
		Ordered to get out of a Humvee, then back in minutes later, veterans joked that the unwritten military policy of "hurry up and wait" had not changed over the decades. "Never listen to a lieutenant," was the advice a 60-something Marine veteran shouted to the Marine private who took a wrong turn after his superior gave him bad directions to the black-sand invasion beach. Being back on Iwo Jima gave elderly Iwo Jima veterans the energy to walk on the "sands of Iwo Jima" and to climb in and out of the back of diesel-belching military vehicles. Tribute A joint commemorative ceremony with Japanese veterans, families and government officials was at the center of the visit -- the reason the Japan government allows the annual visits to the island, which is now a Japanese self-defense force air base with a small mining operation. "We are here today, to do as we have done a number of times before -- to jointly pay honor to those on both sides of the battle who made the supreme sacrifice on this island by giving their lives to their nations," said retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Lawrence F. Snowden during the ceremony. The United States lost 6,821 servicemen during the battles, mostly Marines, and it is believed as many as 20,000 Japanese soldiers died. "Those of us who where fighting on this island 62 years ago were not here by choice but once we were here, each of us did what we had to do." The United States needed to capture the island in order to make it easier to launch bombing raids on the main island of Japan from bases in the Marianas. Former Japan Prime Minister Yoshio Mori said, "Last year, a motion picture inspired by the battle of Iwo Jima was released. Both Japan and the U.S. made desperate efforts in the battle of Iwo Jima, which was one of the fiercest battles rarely seen in military history." He said he was moved to see veterans and their families reunite and affirm their friendship by "overcoming the agony of the past." An Iraq war veteran, former Army Spc. Hilario Burmanis, 25, of Pohnpei, described the visit as powerful. After the memorial ceremony, he commented on the emotion displayed by some of the veterans who participated in a wreath-laying, saying, "It must be hard for them to see where they fought and see where their fellow soldiers died." Continued Iwo Jima Visit Stirs Memories, Page 2