Dutch Uncle
* Tertia Optio * Defend the Constitution
For some perspective: Pick any one US heavy cruiser present, say Salt Lake City. That single ship was scheduled to fire more rounds in bombardment of Iwo Jima than the entirety of the bombardment force (Cruiser division 7) the Japanese were going to use at Midway...
God Bless American industrial might. The price was heavy.
Per our earlier discussion, nowadays the island would still be taken, if it still necessary for the mission, but modern weapons and tactics would save a lot of Marine lives. The mission always comes first but good support from the Federal government allows Marines, and the other services, to do the mission with a minimal cost in American lives.
An example is Iwo Jima and Afghanistan:
The US lost over 7300 sailors and Marines taking Iwo Jima. In 20 years of war, the US lost 2,448 service personnel and 3,846 US contractors in Afghanistan.
A fascinating difference, IMHO.
PS Private Contractor deaths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_private_contractor_deaths_in_Afghanistan