WAR'S NEW CHANCES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 152, 29 June 1945, Page 4

WAR'S NEW CHANCES

RECOVERY RATIO

IWO JIMA AS AN EXAMPLE WASHINGTON. There is much comfort and reassurance in the record, cited by Navy Secretary Forrestal, showing that 98 of every 100 American sailors and marines who were wounded in the first three years of the war have recovered. Reports from the army are equally gratifying. The hardest battles ever encountered by the United States Marine Corps in its 168 years of heroic history were on Iwo Jima, where the terrain of the volcanic island and the savage nature of the foe presented an unparalleled task. Yet more than 6000 of our men who were wounded in the expedition's earlier stages, which included storming the treacherous beaches and capturing the highest hill, were back in the ranks before the final victory. We suffered approximately 19,900 casual ties during the four weeks of the I#o Jima campaign, but of this total 15,300 represented the wounded; and on the basis of past experiences, says Secretary Forrestal, there is a reasonable expectation that between 11,000 and 12,000 of these "will be so thoroughly restored to health as to fo capable of complete activity."