Sands of Iwo Jima is a 1950 war film which follows a group of Marines from training to the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. It stars John Wayne, John Agar, Adele Mara and Forrest Tucker. The movie was written by Harry Brown and James Edward Grant and directed by Allan Dwan. It was produced by Republic Pictures.

Some Air Force Trivia
From my Duty In Occupied Japan Dec 1947 - June 1950

In January of 1950, I along with others were sent to Iwo Jima to check out an old xmitter station and cable on the Island. The team was there for 4 weeks.

Prior to our arrival they had found a Japanese soldier from world war II in the chow line at the GI's Mess Hall on Iwo. While I was there Japanese Contractors were there to look over the Island and give a bid on removing all the scrape metal, etc. This was necessary to start cleaning up the Island. They also stood in line and ate in the Mess Hall with the GIs.

On weekends we would explorer the Island. There was at the time a U.S. Coast Guard Loran station on the northwest side of the island and we were surprised to find that there had been civilian dependents on Iwo prior to 1950.

During this time, the first Pacific Theater showing of The movie, The Sands Of Iwo Jima, was shown in an open air theater and was free. Everyone, except those on duty, on the Island were there that night.

No one on the beaches of Iwo Jima during February 1945 could have dreamed what was occuring that night......Here it was 1950 (approximately 5 years later) and a few Japanese civilians along with American GIs, on the Island of Iwo Jima, watching a movie called, The Sands Of Iwo Jima...