Awards
and Praise for Iwo Jima: Memories in Sand
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Nominee for the IDA/ABC News Videosource Award
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CINE Golden Eagle
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Community Media Award for Best Documentary, Boulder, Colorado
The Film has screened at:
-DoubleTake Documentary Film
Festival
-New York International
Independent Film and Video Festival
-Independent
Feature Project Market
-Hawai’i
International Film Festival
-Great Plains
Film Festival
"God help our nation if we ever forget the 292,000 that gave up their lives during World War Two. The 33 days of hell on Iwo burns deeply in my memory. The work you folks have done will certainly aid in the preservation of history."
--Marshall E. Harris,
2nd Armored Divison
United States Marine Corps
"Highly informative and deeply moving. Does a fine job of capturing both the tragedy of the battle and the pathos of the anniversary visit."
--Richard Wheeler,
Author of Iwo and The Bloody Battle for Suribachi
"What a powerful story. When the tape was over, our family just sat there and stared at the TV. We bought it for my wife’s father who was in the second wave of Marines on the beach at Iwo. So, it was especially meaningful for us.”
--Joe Pinner
Son-in-law of Dale Walker Ewing, U.S. Marine Corps
“What was it like for young Japanese and American boys to fight each other on Iwo Jima? We who were not there cannot fathom the horror. But Iwo Jima: Memories in Sand brings us as close to the experience as we can ever get.”
--James Bradley
Son of flagraiser John Bradley
Author, Flags of Our Fathers
"With WWII veterans passing on and their personal stories being lost to future generations, videos such as this capture an important legacy. Iwo Jima: Memories in Sand preserves forever the sights and sounds of a day when unimaginable horrors confronted the young men of a long-ago America and left them with dreams that will haunt them till the day they die. Recommended."
--Video Librarian
"Iwo Jima shows a reunion of U.S. veterans, mostly marines, 50 years after the battle... This video presents the survivors’ recollections of the battle rather than a detailed account of the battle itself. Appropriate for individual or group viewing in school or public libraries."
--School Library Journal
"The most gripping image in the long history of the U.S. Marine Corps is the picture of a group of men raising the American flag on Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi. Nearly half the Marines who stormed ashore in February 1945 were killed or wounded by the island's fanatic Japanese defenders. Admiral Chester Nimitz well summarized the heroism of the Iwo Jima Marines when he said, "Uncommon valor was a common virtue." The horrific battle imprinted itself upon the souls of the young Marines to whom fortune gave the opportunity to grow old. This moving film combines remarkable color footage from 1945 with the recollections of Marines who returned to the island half a century later. They mourned their lost comrades and reflected on the values that guided them on the mushy volcanic soil of barren Iwo Jima: honor, courage, and commitment. In a touching sequence, the film shows us one veteran who formed a cup with his hands as he scooped up samples of black sand from a beachhead where Marines landed. It bogged him down in 1945 and 50 years later reminded him of his fellow Marines. The documentary's evocative combination of pictures and voices teaches new generations about the high price Americans paid for freedom on a distant Pacific island. The lesson is both sobering and uplifting."
--Paul Stillwell
Director, History Division
U.S. Naval Institute
Annapolis, Maryland
"I was a member of the Fourth Marine Division, Company B, First Battalion, 24th Regiment. I recently took a copy of 'Iwo Jima: Memories in Sand' to a Marine Corps League meeting. It was well received by the membership. The narration of the early days of battle is excellent. The eyewitness accounts were of the greatest interest, as were scenes of how the island looks now. Looking down the landing beach with a slightly green cover, compared to the carnage I witnessed on February 23, 1945, is unbelievable! I feel certain that many surviving Marines and their families will be most interested in your film."
--James A. Moore
Pleasant Hill, California
"It is possible to think of this film as a prayer or a requiem mass. For Marines who fought on Iwo Jima, the experience is not over. Even the dead live on in the lives of the survivors. The film asks us to touch that black sand and listen to the stories of the survivors."
--Steve Fay
Beloit College
“My grandfather is Thomas J. McGuire and it meant so much to our family to see him in the film. I only wish he were still here with us to see the film himself. We often talked about Iwo Jima, but it was tough to get the full sense of what exactly happened to these soldiers until your film. My grandfather was a hero to our family in so many ways. This film was wonderful for me because it allowed me to see my grandfather as the proud Marine and person that he was. Thank you so much for that gift.”
--Sean Kelley
Mansfield, Massachusetts
“Viewing Iwo Jima: Memories in Sand touched me as a human being, a father, and a provider, and it made me deeply grateful for being a Marine. The film reminded me of how, as men, we have a love-hate relationship with great danger, and it reminded me how deep and unique our bond is as Marines. The memories of those who were there translates the Marine experience, Marine to Marine, regardless of age, gender, or current situation. Don’t miss it, Marine! Semper Fi.”
--David Hardwicke
Boulder, Colorado
“In recent years, many of the veterans from both sides have been able to return to Iwo Jima for a pilgrimage. The footage for the present video was made on the 50th anniversary. I was privileged to return with some veterans on the 55th anniversary, and participated in the commemoration. On their treks along the landing beaches, and at some of the sites of their desperate struggles, their faces were grim and often unabashedly tearful. No longer were they adversaries but rather melancholy witnesses to a past fury which is today unimaginable. The present video captures the remembrances of the veterans, and in doing so conveys the horror of their human struggle and the absurdity of war. When finally the experience passes entirely from human memory, we will have this poignant video to remind us. Lest we forget.”
--Dirk Anthony Ballendorf
Professor of History and Micronesian Studies
University of Guam
"Iwo Jima: Memories in Sand is a great find. In
under 30 minutes, the documentary pulls together a range of problems to help
students understand World War Two. From the original footage-much of it in
color-to the succinct and spare narration, Iwo Jima gives us a fresh
look at a battle that is often eclipsed by the attention to atomic warfare in
the Pacific. Students were particularly
affected by the documentary's sensitivity to the survivors of Iwo Jima, and
their experience in returning to the island 50 years later.”
--Susan Schulten
Department of History
University of Denver
“Iwo Jima: Memories in Sand redefines that crucial and costly battle over a half-century after the fact. It presents the context of the struggle for Iwo Jima in a most sparing way – not many words, no long speeches, just the bare facts. The island was needed to save American crewmen on damaged planes returning from missions over Japan. The beautiful editing and the soundtrack with hushed Gregorian music said everything that needed to be said. The tragedy of war was caught in a hundred different ways—through the grim faces of battle-weary men, through the poignant letter written by a young Marine the day before the battle, by the matter-of-fact way in which one veteran tells of ‘piling bodies around us as foxholes,’ and by the strong emotion that comes through in the eyes and voice of men retelling the story even though they have had half a century to exorcise their demons.”
--Father Francis Hezel, S.J.
Micronesian Seminar, Pohnpei
“In this moving documentary, Beret Strong and John Tweedy meld images from the National Archives with interviews of veterans returning for the 50th commemoration of the battle of Iwo Jima. The film shows the strategic importance of Iwo Jima as an airbase for the bombing of Japan in World War II. But it more explicitly documents the enormous costs in life of both young Americans and young Japanese. The survivors at the commemoration speak about how devastating the battle was for mind and body, watching their buddies go down. The overall impression is that of an elegy, reinforced by the somber background music. This is beautifully sung and played by widely acclaimed performers from Boulder and Denver, Colorado: the Ars Nova Singers, the Takacs Quartet, the Nacht Quartet, and the St. Martin’s Chamber Choir.
--Caroline E. Malde
Retired Teacher
Boulder, Colorado
“In this film, we are touched by the pain and the insanity of war as well as the depth of the human spirit to care for each other and to endure. Iwo Jima: Memories in Sand evokes the majesty and sacredness of lives lost. The viewer is soon in awe of the courage and caring of young men who know they must kill and be killed. We also hear the voices of their wives, their children, and even of the enemy, other young men who happen to be Japanese, also commanded to kill.”
--Nancy Flood, Ph.D.
Northern Marianas College, Saipan