History+In+The+Making

__History Of Operation Endgame: Strike on the Pacific __

In 1941, the United States officially entangled themselves into the second great war. General Douglas MacArthur was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on January 26 1880. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1903 and entered service the same year as an engineer officer in the Philippines. In February of 1911 MacArthur was was promoted to Captain and then 6 years later in August of 1917 he was made a Colonel. When the time came his name was called and in June of 1918 he was promoted to Brigadier General. He Was later promoted to Major General in January of 1925. In 1935 he became the military adviser to the government of the Philippines. MacArthur devised a three-point plan for winning the war in the Pacific. Although //Iwo Jima// was a small island MacArthur viewed it as an incredibly important and strategic point to proceed on with the Allied assault. The island is only 4.5 miles long and 2.5 mils wide MacArthur thought that with the capture of this crucial checkpoint would allow the United States Air forces to land on their way to and from their bombardments on Japanese Soil. This was also an important step in the island hopping process and in the United States ultimate goal of destroying the Japanese merchant fleet so that Japan's mainland could no longer receive food and other crucial supplies from South-Eastern Asia.

Leading the charge on the island of Iwo Jima was Admiral Raymond Spruance. Born in 1886 in Baltimore, Maryland he graduated the United States Military Academy in 1906 only three years after Douglas MacArthur. He then went on to receive further education in the field of electrical engineering. In 1940 he was made commander of th e Tenth Naval District and The Caribbean Sea frontier. From 1943-1944 he held the position of //Commander of the Central Pacific Force//, with the USS Indianapolis as the flagship, he played role in many important events such as the capture of the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas, Iwo Jima and Okinawa and defeated the Japanese fleet in the June 1944 //Battle of Philippine Sea.// Although he was the first to attack the Japanese on Iwo Jima the island had been constantly bombed for two months before and most of the ground assault was led by the marines under the command of Lieutenant General Holland "Howling Mad" Smith.

Smith graduated from the school of Application In Annapolis in 1906 with Admiral Spruance. Less than a year after he set sail for the Philippines only to return in 1908 to obtain a station at the Marine Barracks in Annapolis. In 1909 he left for Panama again to return soon only six months later in 1910. On May 30, 1917, he left for France as the commander of the 8th Machine Gun Company, 5th Marines. While in France he detached from the Marines and attended the Army General Staff College at Langres, from which he was graduated in February 1918. He then went on to fight //with the French in the Battle of Belleau Wood.// When he returned he was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French Government, and eventually a Purple Heart. In the years after WWI Smith stayed occupied until when WWII came along he was made commander of the Amphibious Corps, which later became the V Amphibious Corps. He continued to head the V Amphibious Corps until August 1944, when he was named Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, at Pearl Harbor. In addition to that post, he commanded Task Force 56 at Iwo Jima before returning to the United States in July, 1945, to head the Marine Training and Replacement Command at Camp Pendleton, California. The battle of Iwo Jima in 1945, was one of the last battles in the Pacific.

Chester Nimitz was born Febuary 24, 1885, in Fredericksburg, Texas. Nimitz attended the Naval Acedemy in Annapolis, Maryland. He served in the Philipines, Chester was later assigned in 1909 to underwater services. When Nimitz's was first assigned to underwater services, he was not kean about this idea but in the later years he became the leading authority on submarines.Three years later Nimitz was put in command of the Atlantic Submarine Flotilla. During WWII, Nimitz often met with General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Ernest King to discuss strategy against Pacific war zones. One Decision to Rule Them All