World Battlefronts: The Marines Could Take It–

Many a U.S. citizen, shocked by the cost of conquering Iwo Jima, (see U.S. AT WAR) wondered last week if there might not have been a way to avoid it. TIME Correspondent Robert Sherrod, who has seen many a U.S. fighting man fall on Pacific isles, radioed: “We had to have this island, regardless of casualties. Jap strategy all along has been to send U.S. casualties soaring until the Americans sicken of the war and call it off. I do not believe any method of any man could have lessened the cost. I once wrote that there would be many more Tarawas before this bloody Pacific war is won, and that the casualties would try American souls. Iwo was one of those tests. I hope the people at home can take it with the fortitude and resolution shown by the living and dead of the marines here.”