The Snapshots in Time Collection

Rows of White Crosses, Temporary Military Cemetery, Ie Shima, 1945

Rows of White Crosses, Temporary Military Cemetery, Ie Shima, 1945

Rows of white wooden crosses mark a temporary U.S. military cemetery established on Ie Shima following the island's capture in 1945. Sites like this, hastily constructed near forward air bases during the closing months of the Pacific War, held the remains of servicemen before many were later repatriated or reinterred in permanent military cemeteries. Project: 218239