Hawai'i ties to bloody Pacific battle recalled

• Tale tells of Iwo Jima's flag-raisings

Some 420 Big Isle community members welcomed 25,000 Marines overnight, Pacific War Memorial Association chairwoman Alice Clark noted. "It really changed the community."

• Between 1941 and 1945, some 50,000 Marines, members of the 2nd and 5th Marine Divisions and the V Amphibious Corps arrived at Camp Tarawa (Parker Ranch on the Big Island) from Camp Pendleton in California, training specifically for what would be the Battle of Iwo Jima.
• Heading out after Christmas, they stopped first at Pearl Harbor for a day and a half of liberty. Many spent the time at Richardson Field, where a hot dog and beer bust was in swing.
• After Iwo Jima, they returned to Camp Tarawa, further training for a full-scale invasion of Japan.

Clark's group is working to let more people know about Hawai'i's role, and is active in the placing of an Iwo Jima memorial at the entryway to the Marine Corps base in Kane'ohe. The bronze sculpture is smaller than the one in Arlington, Va.; in this one, the men stand 8 1/2 feet tall.

"Hawai'i played a big role, and it's long overdue to have this internally recognized symbol in the Pacific, where it belongs," said Clark.

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Pacific War Memorial Association

Correction: Some 50,000 Marines, members of the 2nd and 5th Marine Divisions and the V Amphibious Corps, were stationed at Camp Tarawa in Waimea, Hawai'i, between 1941 and 1945. A previous version of this story incorrectly characterized the nature of the units stationed there.