In this photo provided by the Iwo Jima Association of America, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth greets veterans including Charles Cram, Hegseth is shaking hands with, a former Marine, who fought on Iwo Jima, during the 80th Reunion of Honor ceremony on Iwo Jima, now known as Iwoto, or Iwo island, Japan, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Iwo Jima Association of America via AP)

TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Saturday praised American-Japanese friendship and trust while attending a memorial service on Iwo Jima to honor those who died in a pivotal World War II battle.

Japan is Hegseth's second stop after the Philippines on his first Asia trip. His visit comes as Beijing has been showing increasing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea and President Donald Trump made threats to impose trade tariffs on the East Asian country, a key U.S. ally.

Hegseth landed on Iwo Jima, now known as Iwoto, the island where Japanese and American soldiers faced off in one of the war's fiercest battles. He joined several American veterans who survived the battle and bereaved Japanese families. He was joined by his Japanese counterpart, Gen Nakatani, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and other officials at Saturday's Reunion of Honor event.

“Iwo Jima embodies our shared warrior ethos, our shared devotion to the nation, and to duty and our shared reverence for the men of valor who preceded us,” Hegseth said in front of the cenotaph built in 1985 marking their first joint memorial.

“The U.S.-Japan alliance shows ... how yesterday’s enemy has become today’s friends,” Hegseth said. “Our alliance has been and remains the cornerstone of freedom, prosperity, security and peace in the Indo-Pacific.”

Most of those who fought on the tiny island are gone but their hallowed memory lives on, he said, and expressed appreciation for the six veterans aged about 100 who attended the memorial.

The veterans slowly walked to the epitaph with the help of service members to pay tribute to their fellow Marines and sailors who perished there. Charles Cram, a Navy corpsman who was wounded and awarded for his bravery, saluted the epitaph and gently touched the wreath of red, blue and white flowers, as did the others.

Cram, who landed on Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945, spent the first night in a foxhole by himself feeling "terribly scared.” A few days later, Cram was shot in his leg by a Japanese sniper while checking on a Marine and was evacuated. By then he had lost most of the 250 Marines he landed with.

“I felt some sadness in my heart that I realized that this is one of the futilities of war,” Cram, 99, said during his first trip back since the battle.

In a sign of reconciliation, Cram said he brought a flag he took from a Japanese soldier and handed it over to one of Japanese officials at the ceremony, expressing his hopes it would be returned to the soldier's family.

Recent polls show the Japanese feel more affinity toward the U.S. than any other country. Most Americans and Japanese alive today were born after Japan surrendered in August 1945.

Japan, which faces growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia, has been accelerating its military buildup and increasingly working closely with the U.S. military.

On Sunday, Hegseth will hold talks with Nakatani in Tokyo to discuss further strengthening the alliance.

“We must not forget that the peace and prosperity we enjoy today have been built upon the noble sacrifices of those who died in the war and the tireless efforts of the people over the past 80 years since the end of the war,” said Ishiba, who became the first serving Japanese prime minister to attend the joint Iwo Jima memorial.

The 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima is best known for the photo by The Associated Press’ Joe Rosenthal showing six Marines raising the U.S. flag over Mount Suribachi 80 years ago.

About 70,000 American troops fought at Iwo Jima from Feb. 19 to March 26, 1945, as the U.S. tried to take control of a key strategic point to advance to mainland Japan. Nearly 7,000 Marines and about 20,000 Japanese were killed. More than half of the remains of the Japanese are still unaccounted for.

News from © The Associated Press, 2025