Pacific War Fifth and Thirteenth Air Forces to attack targets throughout the Philippines and the South China Sea. The Battle of Iwo Jima ("Operation Detachment") in February 1945 was one of the bloodiest battles fought by the Americans in the Pacific War. Iwo Jima is an 8 sq mile (21 km) island situated halfway between Tokyo and the Mariana Islands. Holland Smith, the commander of the invasion force, aimed to capture the island and prevent its use as an early-warning station against air raids on the Japanese Home Islands, and to use it as an emergency landing field. Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi,
Internment of Japanese Americans and the Pacific between 1936 and 1942, some Americans feared that its military forces were unstoppable. American public opinion initially stood by the large population of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast, with the "Los Angeles Times" characterizing them as "good Americans, born and educated as such." Many Americans believed that their loyalty to the United States was unquestionable. But, six weeks after the attack, public opinion along the Pacific began to turn against Japanese Americans living on the West Coast, as the press and other Americans became nervous about the potential for fifth column activity. Though the administration