The Battle of Iwo To?

Here's more proof that everything I know about history is wrong. After sixty-something years of letting it be called "Iwo Jima," the Japanese are finally changing the famous island's name back to Iwo To.

The new name in Japanese looks and means the same as Iwo Jima - or Sulfur Island - but sounds different, the Japanese Geographical Survey Institute said.

Before the war, however, the volcanic island was known as Iwo To by the 1,000 or so civilians who lived there.

They were evacuated in 1944 as U.S. forces advanced across the Pacific. Some Japanese navy officers who moved in to fortify the island mistakenly called it Iwo Jima, and the name stuck. [Link]

Mamaw Wasn't So Fancy

Franklin Sousley was one of the six Marines who raised the American flag at Iwo Jima in 1945. He's portrayed in the new Clint Eastwood movie Flags of Our Fathers by actor Joseph Cross, his mother by actress Connie Ray.

A number of Mrs. Sousley's descendants were given a private screening of the film in Cincinnati on Tuesday, and came away satisfied with the depictions of their relatives.

One thing they would have changed was the portrayal of Goldie Sousley -- she was just a little too glamourous for the familiar grandmother they knew and loved.

"Mamaw would have been pleased to see herself played by such a fancy actress," Geneva Price said. [Link]