by Nick Delgado

Guam - The United States and Japan commemorated the Battle for Iwo Jima this week, marking the 67th anniversary of a bloody, hard-fought battle. American and Japanese veterans attended the ceremony on the tiny, tear-shaped island located halfway between Tokyo and Guam.

Commanding General of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force Lieutenant General Kenneth Glueck said, "The price that was paid, this was the first time that the United States had actually landed on Japanese soil during World War II, and the Japanese were well defended here on Iwo Jima. There were in the neighborhood of about 48,000 total casualties during the 36-day campaign that existed. Of that there were approximately 27,000 of those were U.S. casualties. There were about 6,700 or so that were actually killed in action."

Long before the battle began, many Japanese military and political leaders knew the war had been lost. But it would take the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 to convince them unconditional surrender was inevitable.