Absent From History: the Black Soldiers at Iwo Jima

Nearly 900 African-Americans fought on the Japanese island but not one appears in Clint Eastwood's Oscar-tipped film, writes Dan Glaister.

Comments on article "Absent From History: the Black Soldiers at Iwo Jima "

Name	Views and Comments	Date
S.L.Proctor	The quotation from pesident Harry Truman says it all, "The only thing new in th world is the history you don't know." And many do not want to know that African-Americans were in every war and fought with all their might. It is time for someone to speak out against this and make good movies of African-American Veterans. It is sad that Mr. Eastwood follows this pattern, it is even more sad that African-American actor or film makers do not even make movies that show African-American in War I and II. Its time to stand up and let our voice be heard.	8/31/2009
Edward West	To "Joe Morales" & "Truck," you obviously didn't pay close attention to the details provided in the article. The article states that yes Blacks were in supportive roles carrying ammunition but that when they reached Iwo Jima they took up arms and fought because of the fiercness of the battle. But so what if they were in just supportive roles? There have been many movies about slavery showing Blacks in subordinate roles to Whites so why would African-Americans be so offended if that was the role they played in Iwo Jima so long as it was the truth? And it is not "an attempt to rewrite history" if this is what actually happened. And yes, the number of Black soldiers to Whites were less, but the article also states that if there were a few Blacks in extras roles that would satisfy what they want: "proof that we were there." Why would that be so hard to do? And the fact that the African American soldier Sgt. McPhatter provided the pipe to which the flag was raised on should have been enough to include him in the history of the famous war effort symbol.	6/23/2008
Joe Morales	There were over 30,000 front line soldiers at Iwo. The 900 blacks that did serve (and from I understand 2 were killed) were in support roles. Would Eastwood would have received criticism for showing blacks in such position? This whole issue is an attempt to re-write history for the sake of political correctiveness. Sorry Spike, you can't change history.	6/10/2008
hester,durhamNC	I am 11 year old african american. some of my classmates always ask how come there is not alot of information for african american history?My teacher saysthat why we have OBAMA.Like he always says LETS MAKE A CHANGE.One of the things I would want is to have more history in text books.	6/10/2008
Boy Batugan	Angay ibotang gyud ang unsay tino od nga nahitabo. Dili hikalimtan ang tabang og gihimo sa mga amerkanong itom sa ika duhang gubat sa kalibotan. Ipagawas ang kamato oran. I-apil pud ang mga sundalong Pinoy nga ni apil sa paglupig sa mga Hapon sa Iwo Jima kay na a puy mga sundalong Pinoy nga kauban sa mga Amerkanong puti sa paglusob sa Iwo Jima.	6/6/2008
Truck	This article fails to mention that the battle of Iwo Jima was 77,000 US Marine Strong... IF there was "nearly 900" Black soldiers... That's 0.01%... It's so much easy to use numbers the way you want them too	10/24/2006

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