Thank you very much. That's quite a reception for a horse cavalryman and a Navy fly-boy. [Laughter]
Well, at dawn, 40 years ago today, 450 United States Navy ships stood off a tiny island in the Pacific. Few Americans had heard of the place. It measured 4 2/3 miles by 2 1/2 miles, ash-covered beaches and one extinct, unknown volcano. And at 7 o'clock, 0700 hours to you, a command was passed to the ships: Land the landing force!
No one, not even you, the marines and the Navy corpsmen who stepped ashore from the Amtracs at 2 minutes after 9, knew that what you were about to do would forever enshrine the island, Iwo Jima, and the volcano, Mount Suribachi, in American history.
Today Iwo Jima is remembered with other names like Saratoga, the Alamo, Gettysburg—remembered, not simply because Americans were again conspicuously gallant in battle, but because our sons were called upon to endure unspeakable hardship for the sake of freedom.
Every one of you present today, and all of you 40 years ago, have a special place in our nation's heart, reserved only for the few in every generation called upon to sacrifice themselves so that a great nation's ideals of freedom and peace may live and prosper and endure. The manner of your performance-as captured in Joe Rosenthal's photo of your flag-raising at Mount Suribachi—remains a beacon, indeed a birthright, for America's young people and for every future American.
The other day, I came across a description of Iwo written by the then-Private First Class Russell Werts. And it ended in the following
Note: The President spoke to former members of the 28th Marine Regiment at 4:45 p.m. in the East Room at the White House. In his opening remarks, the President referred to his own and the Vice President's military service.
Ronald Reagan, Remarks to Veterans of the Battle of Iwo Jima Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/259752
