Letters Iwo | Jima

He unfolded a single, thin sheet. It was meant for a letter home.

Your son, Haruo.

He had no envelope. There was no postman on Iwo Jima. There was only the next assault, the next dawn, the next order to fight to the last man. So he folded the paper into a tiny, tight square—smaller than a playing card. He slipped it into the same leather pouch as the sen nin bari , next to his heart. letters iwo jima

Sato folded the letter again. He did not put it in a museum. He did not give it to a historian. He unfolded a single, thin sheet

He could not write that. So he wrote about plums. He unfolded a single

Dear Mother,