Talk:Sands of Iwo Jima

Black people

Mention why there are no black people in the movie. Jidanni 16:08, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

First, this isn't different from most war films from that era. Second, according to Desegregation#Desegregation in the military, army units didn't become integrated until the Korean War. Clarityfiend 22:52, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Why should there be black people in the movie there were none on the scene in real life. 2601:482:4480:2670:949B:3470:E5DB:E53F (talk) 14:44, 31 May 2021 (UTC)

Death of Wayne's Character

Just my opinion- the death of Wayne's character at the end of the film was an essential event that highlighted the fact good men died at Iwo Jima, not just the extras or minor characters of life, for there were none there of that type. 71.114.163.55 —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 05:33, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Letter

I want to change the last bit regarding Stryker's letter, the letter was left incomplete and Stryker only managed to tell his some some of the things he wanted to, the original transcript seems to indicate the he had wrote everything that he wanted to say. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.95.170.99 (talk) 07:52, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

only movie with death of Wayne's character?

Is this the only movie in which John Wayne (e.g. his character) get shot and dies?

Not hardly pilgrim. This gives a list of his screen deaths (from all causes). He gets fatally shot in The Shootist, The Cowboys, and The Fighting Seabees. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:01, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Flag authenticity

I haven't found a good source yet, but it would not be impossible, given Wayne's fame and the participation of the three remaining flag raisers, that this was the actual flag. In the movie, these three actually raise the flag. --THE FOUNDERS INTENT ^PRAISE 23:14, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay

In the movie, one of the marines who landed at Iwo Jima like to read. He got killed early in the battle. As he falls down, the camera zooms in on one of the books he held in his pocket: "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay". I guess that in 1949, when the movie was released, the book was still popular and well known in the general public. Today, besides by reading the wikipedia article about the book, it's harder to guess what the film maker wanted to show with that scene. AugustinMa (talk) 13:05, 9 November 2014 (UTC)

In answer to the above mention of the scene where Pvt. McHugh (a very young and adorable Martin Milner) is killed, with a copy of "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay" in his pocket.

That scene with the shot of the book, “Our Hearts Were Young and Gay” is taken from a real life story. Well, two stories actually. One version, reported in “The Saturday Evening Post” in 1945 that Capt. J.H. Magruder, a soldier in the Pacific, saw a copy of “Hearts” sticking out of the trouser pocket of a fallen soldier.” Oddly, a similar story came from Normandy after D-Day, where Pvt. Robert Healey, returning to Omaha Beach to retrieve his backpack, saw a dead soldier with his arms outstretched. Near one of his hands was a copy of “Our Hearts Were Young and Gay.”

What isn't exactly accurate is the book itself. What both soldiers would have been carrying were Armed Services Editions of the book -- pocket-sized paperbacks that were distributed to the soldiers by the Council on Books in War. During the duration of the war, over 1,300 different titles were produced, and over 100 million copies distributed to the troops. Molly Guptill Manning wrote about this little-known war effort in her marvelous book, "When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Win World War II".

"Our Hearts Were Young and Gay" had been at the top of the NY Times Bestseller list in early 1943, and was selected as one of the titles in the first series of books to be issued. It proved to be popular enough (and perhaps upbeat/escapist) enough that it was reprinted and issued again in 1944. So it's possible that one or both of those anecdotes are true. Even if these stories are tall tales, they made it into the lore of World War II. The makers of “Sands of Iwo Jima” included this in their movie as an authentic detail which many moviegoers who saw the film in 1949 would have recognized as a true story. Adrienne Crow, 12:15 27 February 2018