Letters from Iwo Jima Quotes

  • General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: You again?

  • General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: Everything happens in threes.

  • General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: The United States is the *last* country in the world that Japan should fight.

  • General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: I am determined to serve and give my life for my country.

  • General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: If our children can live safely for one more day it would be worth the one more day that we defend this island.

  • Saigo: He studied the Americans. So he knows how to beat them.

  • Saigo: We can die here, or we can continue fighting. Which would better serve the emperor?

  • General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: A day will come when they will weep and pray for your souls.

  • General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: I will always be in front of you.

  • Saigo: Thank you very much. I'm happy to serve the country.

  • General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: We will build those underground fortifications. And fight till the end.

  • General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: For our homeland. Until the very last man. Our duty is to stop the enemy right here. Do not expect to return home alive.

  • General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: You are quite a soldier

    Saigo: No, just a simple baker

  • Shimizu: I don't know anything about the enemy. I thought all Americans were cowards. I was taught they were savages.

  • Saigo: [a letter to Saigo's wife] We soldiers dig. We dig all day. This is the hole that we will fight and die in. Am I digging my own grave?

  • Baron Nishi: [reading the letter from the mother of Sam, the dead marine] Remember what I said to you: always do what's right because it is right.

  • Lt. Colonel Oiso: We will make a run for Motoyama. There is no cover for 2 kilometers, it will be every man for himself. See you on the other side, if not on this earth, then in the next world.

  • Lieutenant Okubo: Shall I finish him off?

    Baron Nishi: No. Treat him.

    Lieutenant Okubo: But, sir...

    Baron Nishi: Okubo, you would expect the same, wouldn't you? Endo, treat him.

    Medic Endo: We are low on morphine as it is.

    Shimizu: Sir, the Americans would not treat a wounded Japanese soldier.

    Baron Nishi: Son, have you ever met one? Treat him.

    [Shimizu is lost for words]

  • Baron Nishi: This is a picture of me and my horse champion.

    Sam: [Sam smiles and chuckles] No kidding. Oklahoma, it's where I'm from.

    Baron Nishi: Takeichi.

    Sam: Sam.

    [Both men shake hands]

  • General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: [Tadamichi turns up in time to stop Ito from beheading Saigo and Shimizu] I don't want you to kill my soldiers needlessly. Put down your sword. Put it down!

    [Ito sheathes his katana and salutes]

    General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: What's going on here?

    Lieutenant Ito: These men ran from Suribachi.

    General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: Lt. Ito, I gave the order that all survivors retreat to the north caves.

    Lieutenant Ito: [embarrassed] I am very sorry, General. It's just... Suribachi... has fallen.

    [Tadamichi rushes to a cave opening and sees Mount Suribachi from a distance, with a U.S flag raised on the summit]

  • [door opens]

    Lead Woman: Congratulations! Your husband is going to war.

    Saigo: Thank you very much. I'm happy to serve the country.

    Lead Woman: [Lead Woman stares piercingly at Saigo and steps forward] Prayers for your eternal success at arms.

    Hanako: [desperately] I beg of you! We have only each other.

    Lead Woman: [Lead Woman shouts - scolding Hanako angrily] Mrs. Saigo! *This* is not the time.

    [firmly]

    Lead Woman: We have all sent our husbands and sons to war. We all have to do our part.

    [looking down at Hanako's baby bump, and then... sympathetically]

    Lead Woman: At least you'll have a little one to carry on your name.

    [Lead Woman bows with authority and walks away]