The Japanese Soldier WOULD DIE Before SURRENDER 

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I love how he says "he died UNFORTUNATELY" and "luckily, FOR US", proves his humanity, and understanding that the enemy is going trough the same hell as you

Kuribayashi's story was somewhat tragic. He had spent time in the US and had visited places like Detroit, knowing how hopelessly outgunned and outproduced Japan would be against the US in a prolonged war. He was committed to his family and his country and followed his orders, having the good sense to preserve his soldiers' fighting capacity rather than waste it in fruitless banzai charges. A shame that he was wasted on a hopeless defense of Iwo Jima. Some sources suggest he was chosen specifically because he openly spoke about how Japan was doomed to defeat against the US, and was sent to Iwo as a means of silencing his defeatist (albeit correct) views of the war.

Is anyone else here not involved in the military but just appreciates soldiers stories?

The WW2 Vets I've listened to NEVER BRAG, GLOAT, or INSULTED their enemies when speaking of them, as if showing a respect.

He had enough respect for his enemy to remember his name after almost a century, that’s how you know a soldier is honourable

Nice to see a 4th Marine Division member. My dad was also a member. Thank you for your service

The last Japanese soldier to surrender was in the Philippines in the 1970s.

It’s no accident that y’all are called the greatest generation sir. God bless you.❤

It was a dilemma for the Japanese troops. On one hand they were fighting for their God of an Emperor, and had centuries of Japanese warrior code behind them; you do not surrender. (It's one reason POWs were treated so badly by them. In surrendering they had dishonour and were not worthy of respect). On the other hand, many had been told that the US troops were animals, savage butchers and being taken alive was a fate worse than death. So, they fought to the last man.

My grandfather was their. He turned 100 yrs old last April. Love you Grandpa Red

He said a lot without getting into the gritty details. God bless the greatest generation.

I hate what we do to old ppl. They have so much wisdom and guidance.

Thank you Sir for answering your call for service Sir. You were part of the Greatest Generation.

Thank you for your service.

Thank You Sir for Your Service And Sacrifices. And RIP For Those That Gave It All

Thank you for your courageous service. Love and honor from MN. ❤

Thank you for your service sir.

God bless you sir for your service. You're the greatest generation I miss my grandfathers on both sides. They were with you fighting

The last of the Greatest Generation America has seen in a long time. Thank you sir for your service and sacrifices.

Thank you for your service! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

I want to Thank you so very much for your Courageous Service Sir !!!!!

Savage fighting...brave American boys...my american great grandfather was a POW in manila..survived ..they all were the greatest generation

Thank you Marines! God bless you.

I salute you sir you and others like you are what makes me proud to be a American and a fellow Marine Semper Fi

Thank you sir for your service and sacrifices. Thank you for telling your story. I would love to hear the whole interview

The draft ended in January 1973. The Vietnam conflict ended in April 1975, and the Cold War ended in 1991. It was the heroes who fought in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam that inspired me to do my duty and volunteer in 1974. As a USAF veteran who spent my entire time in close proximity to nuclear weapons, we had an attitude based on how quickly it could end while never getting a glimpse of our enemy. Live life to the fullest. Duty is duty, no one was looking for thanks especially in the mid 1970s. But to the old timer who grunted it out in WW2, my respect and gratitude.

Thank you for your service and God bless you

Thank You for your service, courage and bravery!!! AMEN!!!

There were about 21,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima. 200 surrendered and survived. The rest fought to the death. Terribly brutal battle on an island that looked like the surface of another planet.

The Marines faced an enemy more fanatical than even the most hardened SS troops, and there’s no question that the war in the Pacific lasted as long as it did because of this fact. An enemy that is dug in like a tick and fully prepared to fight to the last breath is a worst case scenario, especially when you consider the terrain they were fighting in which favors the defender.

Its always a trip to hear firsthand stories from living history.

BLESSINGS AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽👑✨

God bless you sir 🙏🙏 and thank you for your service 🙏🙏🙏

Thank you for your service sir 🙏 ❤

It just dawned on me how odd I find it that as big as WWll was I know nothing about the emperor of Japan spanning the history of that entire war. I know more about the soldiers and generals but not the emperor

Sir I thank you for serving our country in the way you men did. You folks are the reason this country is the best . God bless you and your fellow soldiers

Thank you sir for your service ❤❤❤❤

****** History needs to be preserved for future generations ****

You are a brave man and I thank you for your service sir. ❤

The fact that this guy survived Iwo Jima. Arguably one of the toughest battles of WW2. is crazy. He may not look like it now. But this guy is hardcore warrior !!!

My mother's family Brothers uncles my uncles 1 Uncle landed on Iwo Jima and got shot but he survived my father and brother uncle we're also in the Pacific everyone came home it is definitely the greatest generation they were some men

Thank you for your service to the entire world!!

Thank you for your service sir. My late father carried a flamethrower during Iwo Jima and was the only member of his platoon to survive.

What a treasure this man is. the clarity he speaks with about some thing that happens 80 years ago. Just incredible.

Thank you for your service!!

God bless all the actions of our vets that made the US a strategic superpower based on their sacrifices

You are a brave marine ...thank you

This is sooo heartbreaking in so many ways 💔💔💔

In addition to this U.S. Marine in this short video, the story from General Kurybashi's (spelling,) point of view is told in the movie "Flags of Our Fathers" released in 2006; it was directed by Clint Eastwood.

THANK YOU FOR OUR FREEDOM

Thank you for your service. The greatest generation no doubt.😊

I have so much respect for this generation

Thank you for your service, sacrifice and bravery 🇺🇸 ❤ God bless you and your family 🙌 ❤

Thank you for your service, sir, God bless

Those poor young men that lost their lives for our freedom on that horrible island. Must have seemed like hell On earth

Bless our Vets 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Thank you for your service and sacrifice Sir. True Courage, I believe, was what it took to step onto that Island, to take it back from the Axis, back then. Thank you for sharing Joe! Thank

Thank you for your service.😢

Thank you for your service, Marine, Semper Fi.

Thank you for your courage and the continued legacy for us future Marines Semper Fi

Thank you for your service, sir.

My dad hit the beaches on Iwo Jima during WWII and he was the best man I have ever met

The "Greatest Generation on the Entire planet"❤

I'm a vet but im nothing compared to these men. I have the highest of respect for ww2 soldiers. They really are the greatest generation. And our kids today need educated on the sacrifices great people made so they didn't have to. Way to much complacentcy amongst our young people and it's disrespectful to those who gave everything to get very little in return

My dad was a brave Marine in that war. As a child, looking at his body when we went swimming was horrifying. It looked like a battlefield. Bullet wounds, shrapnel wounds, scars and makeshift broken field stitches all over his body. The field medics stitched him up and sent him out fighting again. He was an excellent middleweight boxer before the war. The Marine Corps wanted him as a physical trainer, a safe job in a training camp ensuring his survival. He refused because he wanted to fight and die helping his brothers in the battlefield. When I was a kid, on the 4th of July when firecrackers went off, he had flashbacks, pulled me by the neck collar and screamed “hit the deck, as he crawled.” He only slept for short naps, and jumped up looking for his rifle. In his seventies, a couple of hoodlums in their 20’s attacked him. He knocked the first one out cold with a left hook, and the other fled. Yet he was extremely loving and kind and generous to his family and friends. But, if provoked, and he sensed danger, the “sempre fi” emerged instantly. He lived a full life but with many demons. Constantly visited the VA hospital for physical, mental and emotional sicknesses contracted as a teenager fighting the Japanese in the jungles. They treated him well in the VA hospital. He loved going there being with old soldiers. He trusted them. At home, he lived as though the house was a barracks. Never could forget jungle life. Hand washed what few articles of clothing he had every night, shaved with a Schick blade in his field kit, drank his coffee out of a tin cup, worked hard rebuilding machinery in a shop. He died in the VA hospital. 24 hours before his death, he turned solemn and steel cold. He was paralyzed from the waist down. He told me that the grim reaper is hiding in the room wanting to do battle with him. He told me he’ll have a fight on his hands. At the moment of his death, the hospital staff had to hold him down. His paralyzed body levitated as he met the grim reaper for his last battle. My dad lost, but went down fighting like a brave Marine. He was given a 21 gun salute and laid to rest in a military cemetery. The finest man I have ever met. As a teenager I was being recruited into the Marine Corps. My father found out and marched into the office and told them to back off. They respected him and his demeanor and told me to go home. They just don’t make em like that anymore. I always wonder where he is. At night when I dream, at 65 years old, although he died 30 years ago, I am dialing his phone number on my phone.

Thanks for your service and story!

My dad was there. Got a purple heart. Broke his heart. What good is a hero when everyone you love dies?😢

Your awesome sir! I genuinely thank you for your service and testimony

Thank you, sir, for your service to your country

Thank you 🇺🇸

Thanks brother with love

I’m 73 years old, and a life Member of The Marine Corps League .At one point we had 2 Iwo Jima survivors,another that was on Saipan, and one that fought on Okinawa. Unfortunately they are all gone now. These were men I truly admired. Just a few years ago we lost the last one. He was on Iwo. Thank you Marines RIP. You will never be forgotten. 🙏🙏🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Semper Fi

Sir, thank you for your service and God bless you.

Thank you, sir, for your service and bravery

Thank you for your service. God bless you Sir.

Welcome home soldier and thank you for your service Sir.

Thank you for your Service! 🫡🌹

Thank you for your service sir

God bless you sir 🙏

The emperor, tojo, the rest of those in command in Tokyo. Not one took their life at the end of the war. Yet they wanted the one in combat to never surrender

First off thank you from the bottom of my heart for your service to America and the freedom we as citizens take for granted ❤ My Dad flew B24's in the Pacific during WWII, and was a lifelong Clint Eastwood fan. When Eastwood's movie "Letters from Iwojima"(forgive me if I misspelled it) my father refused to watch it. My Dad was repulsed by anything positive to do with the Japanese Army during that awful war! Even though the film itself called out the atrocities the Japanese high command ordered their troops to do?

These old guys can tell the story of what really happened. God bless those who were there and lived it. Thanks to everyone who fought because I'm proud of what it's like in the United States of America

Thank you for your service sir! God bless!

Thank You For Your Service Sir And God Bless You ❤️🇺🇸🙏

They thought the emperor was God. That's why they were willing to die

Coming from a Japanese, god bless all the good people that passed wishing they were with their families ❤

Ty for your service sir. Due to ur bravery and sacrifice and men of the same sort I am able to do things Iike spend time in my garage with my father and brother and every time I see a video such as this I become grateful beyond reproach

We owe this generation our very freedom, sadly there are very few still alive but it was a privilege to grow up and hear my parents, aunts and uncles talk about the Second World War. Bless them all.

Thank you for your Service. What you did. Allowed my dad to serve. It Allowed my brother to serve And it Allowed me to serve. ALWAYS OUT FRONT...

Those brave WW2 vets fought so hard for us to preserve the American way. We’ve let them down greatly

Thank You Thank You Thank You very much for your service sir!

fearless men on both sides respect to those who fought lived and died for their countries respect 🙏 ♥

Thank you 🙏 for your service ❤

Sir, you have all my respect!❤

Thank YOU so much for YOUR SERVICE to, and for the American people, and OUR CONSTITUTION!!

GOD BLESS ALL OF OUR VETERAN'S !!

God bless you, & all of Patriots who go to battle for our country.❤

Thanks, brother. Semper Fi!

His recall and clarity is a testimony to the mettle and bravery from these men was pure backbone and integrity. We are ever indebted to all of you for your service to your country and for our freedoms. Thank you brave soldiers. 🇺🇲 🙏🕊