Significant Leaders of Iwo Jima Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi

Kuribayashi came from a samurai family. Starting in 1928, he spent two years as military attaché in Washington. While there, he observed the industrial power of the United States.

There were two things of which Kuribayashi was certain: that Iwo would eventually fall to the U.S. and that he and his garrison would all perish but he was determined to make the fall of Iwo Jima as costly as possible to the United States. An aristocrat, Kuribayashi was educated in Canada and toured the United States. He was one of the few soldiers ever granted an audience with Emperor Hirohito. He is considered a brilliant military strategist in that the defense of Iwo was fought entirely underground. The Japanese honeycombed the island with more than 18 miles of tunnels, 5000 caves, and pillboxes. He also instructed his troops that each man should kill 10 of the enemy before they were killed.

On the 36th day after the invasion had begun, it was believed that it would not take more than 10 days to capture the island, the fighting ended. After a vicious and bloody battle almost 6,000 U.S. Marines were dead and more than 17,000 were wounded. Only 216 of the 22,000 Japanese defenders survived to be captured. The rest presumably died according to their code.

General Kuribayashi had studied carefully other US assaults and had determined that he would not seriously contest the beach landings. Once ashore, however, it would be a different story. To appease those in the Japanese High Command, he committed a battalion of troops to defensive positions just off the beaches. Naval gunfire and intense naval air support had wiped out nearly all of these defenders before the first LVTs

On March 23, 1945, held up in an underground cave, the last radio transmission to Tokyo from Kuribayashi went out: “All officers of Chichi Jimi, goodbye from Iwo”. General Kuribayashi reportedly committed Hara kiri. His body was never found.

Served 30 years in the Army

Appointed to L. General at very young age 1945

Married with two sons

Wrote his wife often

Known as the General-Poet
Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadamichi_Kuribayashi

Gen Holland McTyeire "Howlin' Mad" Smith (April 20, 1882 – January 12, 1967) was a general in the US Marine Corps during World War II. He is sometimes called the "father" of modern U.S. amphibious warfare.

On the eve of World War II General Smith directed extensive Army, Navy, and Marine amphibious training, which was a major factor in successful U.S. landings in both the Atlantic and Pacific. Later he helped prepare U.S. Army and Canadian troops for the Kiska and Attu landings, then led the V Amphibious Corps in the assaults on the Gilberts, the Marshalls, and Saipan, and Tinian in the Marianas.

During the Marianas operation, besides the V Amphibious Corps, he commanded all Expeditionary Troops, including those which recaptured Guam. After that he served as the first Commanding General of Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, and headed Task Force 56 (Expeditionary Troops) at Iwo Jima, which included all the assault troops in that battle.

Son of Mr. and Mrs. John V. Smith, the general was born 20 April 1882, in Seale, Alabama. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Auburn University (then known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute) in 1901, obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Alabama in 1903 and practiced law in Montgomery, Alabama for a year before he was appointed a Marine second lieutenant 20 March 1905. (Later he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Alabama Polytechnic Institute.)

In April 1906, after completing the School of Application at Annapolis, Maryland, General Smith sailed for the Philippines, where he served on expeditionary duty with the 1st Marine Brigade until September 1908. He returned to the United States the following month and was stationed at the Marine Barracks, Annapolis, until December 1909, when he embarked for expeditionary duty in Panama. Returning from Panama in April 1910, he served at Annapolis, Puget Sound, Washington, San Diego, California, and the Recruiting Station, Seattle, Washington, before sailing in September 1912, to rejoin the 1st Marine Brigade in the Philippines.

This time the general remained with the 1st Brigade until April 1914, when he took command of the Marine Detachment aboard USS Galveston (CL-19). He served in that capacity in Asiatic waters until July 1915, and returned to the United States the following month for duty at the Navy Yard, New Orleans, Louisiana. From there he was ordered to the Dominican Republic in June 1916, as a member of the 4th Marine Regiment. During that unit's operations against rebel bandits, he saw action in the march to Santiago and engagements at La Pena and Kilometer 29. Returning to the United States 30 May 1917, he sailed for France and World War I just two weeks later as commander of the 8th Machine Gun Company, 5th Marines.

His nickname, "Howlin' Mad" Smith, was given to him by his troops.

In February 1924, after serving at Marine Corps Headquarters and in the West Indies in connection with joint Army-Navy maneuvers, the general joined the Marine Brigade on expeditionary duty in Haiti, serving as that unit's Chief of Staff and Officer in Charge of Operations and Training. He returned from that country in August 1925, to serve as Chief of Staff of the 1st Marine Brigade at Quantico, Virginia, until September 1926, as a student in the Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, from then until June 1927, and as Post Quartermaster of the Marine Barracks, Philadelphia Navy Yard, from July 1927 to March 1931.

In April 1931, the general began another tour of sea duty, this time aboard the USS California as Aide to the Commander and Force Marine Officer of the Battle Force, U.S. Fleet. He served in those capacities until June 1933, commanded the Marine Barracks at the Washington Navy Yard from then until January 1935, and served the following two years at San Francisco, California, as Chief of Staff, Department of the Pacific. From there he was ordered to Marine Corps Headquarters in March 1937, to serve two years as Director of the Division of Operations and Training, after which he was Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps under Major General Thomas Holcomb from April to September 1939.

World War II

Moving to San Diego in August 1942, the general took command of the Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, under which he completed the amphibious indoctrination of the 2d and 3d Marine Divisions before they went overseas, and the 7th Army Division and other units involved in the Aleutians operation. The Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, was later redesignated the V Amphibious Corps, and in September 1943, as commander of that unit, General Smith arrived at Pearl Harbor to begin planning for the Gilberts campaign. He continued to head the V Amphibious Corps until August 1944, when he was named Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, at Pearl Harbor. In addition to that post, he commanded Task Force 56 in the battle of Iwo Jima before returning to the United States in July 1945, to head the Marine Training and Replacement Command at Camp Pendleton, California.

Awards

General Smith was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal (for his part in training America's amphibious forces on both coasts), with three Gold Stars in lieu of second (for his planning and execution of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands operations), third (for similar service in the Marianas) and fourth (for his part in the invasion and capture of Iwo Jima) awards. As already mentioned, the general also held the Croix de Guerre with palm and the Purple Heart Medal. His other medals and decorations included the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal with three bronze stars; the Mexican Service Medal; the Dominican Campaign Medal, the World War I Victory Medal with five sector clasps; the Army of Occupation of Germany Medal; the American Defense Service Medal with Base clasp; the American Area Campaign Medal; the Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal with one silver star in lieu of five bronze stars; the World War II Victory Medal; the Dominican Order of the First Merit; and the British Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

Retirement

A lieutenant general when he was retired 15 May 1946, at the age of 64, he was promoted to general on the retired list for having been especially commended in combat. Smith took up residence in La Jolla, California, where he pursued his hobby, gardening. Following a long illness, General Smith died January 12, 1967 at the U.S. Naval Hospital in San Diego, California, aged 84. Funeral services were held on 14 January, at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Chapel, and the general was interred with full military honors in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery overlooking San Diego harbor and North Island. At the time of his death, General Smith, was survived by a son, Rear Admiral John V. Smith. General Smith's wife, the former Ada B. Wilkinson, had died in 1962.

Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland_Smith

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