We prepare to attack Iwo Jima

"The United States plans to attack Iwo Jima on February 12.  The island is well defended and many American boys will die."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   I don't know about other crew members on the USS Pickens, but in the radar shack we often listened to Tokyo Rose, mostly to hear the music she played.   Two times while we were on our way to Iwo, Rose had given us dates that she said we would strike the island.  Both days passed without us attacking. Finally, she gave the right date, February 19.

We had spent almost  all of January training our boat  crews and the Marines  for the battle we knew was coming.  On January 27 we left  Pearl Harbor for Saipan, joining other ships transporting  the Marine Fourth Division to Iwo. We left Saipan head for Iwo. Training continued aboard ship as the Marines and boat crews memorized the entire topography of the island, including the beaches.  This paid off when the landings began and the attack was made on the well-defended island.