Iwo Jima Mass Graves Unearthed

By James Sheldon on October 22nd, 2010

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It’s strange to think about recorded history as chapters, but that is how it reads. I was digging into the story of Vlad III the Impaler last night, aka the fella we’ve all come to know through fictional twists as Count Dracula or Vladislaus Dracul.

I was sitting and thinking about his battles, the thousands and thousands (as many as 20,000 in one swoop) of people that he tortured and impaled as a threat and warning to foes, and wondered, “what the heck did they eventually do with all those bodies?”

Japanese sources have reported to the discovery of approximately 51 soldiers from a mass grave during a recent excavation on Iwo Jima. If you’re unfamiliar, this was the site of one of the most iconic battles in World War II, and easily the most famous from the battles that waged in the Pacific.

It has long been accepted that many missing soldiers from the Japanese force were simply buried on Iwo Jima after the bloody and hard-fought battle had been completed. There have been U.S. documents mapping the area, denoting certain areas as “Enemy Cemeteries.”

This search was prompted in August when a group of Japanese research scientists stated they would spend a week searching for more of the mass graves on the island. There is a possibility that one of the most heavily populated “cemeteries,” could contain upwards of 2,000 Japanese soldiers. This site has also been located, and will potentially be excavated.

Since 1968, the remains of over 8,700 soldiers have been reported as recovered, yet several thousand more have long presumed dead or MIA. Of the 22,000 Japanese troops that fought in the month-long battle, the vast majority were killed in combat.

The team of researchers was set to deliver its findings to the Prime Minister this afternoon.