New York Times: An Iwo Jima Relic Binds Generations

I don't think there are any Japanese letters among the remaining possessions of my late grandfather- he had a rifle for a while with some Sino-Japanese characters on it - but I otherwise have never come across anything I could fathom "returning".

As I've mentioned before, I don't buy into the "futility of war" line, and capturing Iwo Jima gave the American military a needed base of operations to further attack the Japanese home islands.

That said, it does bring back some painful memories of my viewing of Letters From Iwo Jima (I went on to view it an additional 2-3 times) . . .