Rare WWII Invasion Maps for Iwo and Roi-Namur

[rambob]

As mentioned in other posts, awhile ago I met John who was a 4th division marine during WWII. Unlike a lot of veterans, John had no problems talking about his combat experiences during WWII and of course I listened with open ears. It turns out John was in the thick of things at both Iwo Jima and Roi-Namur, being in the front line landings at both locations. To make a long story short, John entrusted to me a large amount of militaria, equipment, papers etc. that he had brought home from the Pacific Theatre. These maps are some of the most unusual items as they are printed on some really flimsy paper and were meant to be memorized prior to going ashore. They show all landing zones with code names and major land marks on each island. They also have instructions on the back on what to do if your commanding officers are killed and other unforeseen things happen to you. I can’t imagine many of these survived intact, as they were meant to be disposable items. If you ever wondered what the beach code names were for these famous islands, take a look. I have also scanned in the back of one map which is the same for both. Lastly the maps were too big for my scanner, so they had to be scanned in halves and reassembled electronically.

[rambob]

Here is the back of both maps

[gunbarrel]

Very cool, rambob...thanks for sharing them with us!

[camopara]

VERY COOL! I've never seen the Roi-Namur map before.

I have three of the Iwo maps...there is a thread on the forum about mine somewhere....to say the least these things just didn't survive and are hard to come by today. Great that you got to meet the veteran and to get his story! That what it is all about....

[littorio]

Just found this at an estate sale. Looks like the burlesque Japanese positions are marked!!

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