Iwo To - Hell on Earth (1945)
Iwo To - Marplot Map (1:50,000)
This is the first English-language unofficial map of Iwo To (aka Iwo Jima) to carry the official Japanese name for this island. The Japanese government will begin publishing the name change on September 1, 2007. I, on the other hand, will publish the unofficial map, with the name change, today.
The DigitalGlobe imagery was excellent except for clouds obscuring the northwestern portion of the island. The cloud-obscured shorelines were digitized using Landsat N-34-20_2000. This map is useful to 1:6,250 scale. It was digitized at 1:4,000.
Iwo To
I had mixed emotions as I worked on this map. My Uncle Pete, USMC, died on this island. As I mapped the shoreline and looked at those black sand beaches, I thought of him lying mortally wounded on one of them. My Grandfather said he died as soon as he hit the beach. I have seen the Eastwood movies and know that torment, anguish and pain was dealt equally to both sides during the battle. My heart breaks for all of the good men, long since dead, but not forgotten.
Peace!
Labels: DigitalGlobe, island, Iwo Jima, Japan, Landsat, Marplot, USMC
