Lat 27° 4' 0N Long 142° 12' 30E  Also know as Ogasawara, and part of the Bonin Island Group, located due north of Iwo Jima, ofshore was the smaller Ari Jima island.

History
The island is 5 x 3 miles in size, 600 miles from Japan and 150 miles from Iwo Jima. The island was the the main communication center for Japan. In the 1930's the Japanese Army began to fortify the island. During WWII, US bombing raids began in 1943. Shortly afterwards, the Japanese evacuated all but a small handful of the civilian population to Japan. The island was defended by an estimated 25,000 Japanese troops, more than nearby Iwo Jima.

Missions Against Chi Chi Jima
August 12, 1944 - June 4, 1945

Out of the 22 Americans shot down over Chichi Jima, eight of them were found to have been executed and some eaten. Post war, a war crime trial ensued, led by USMC Colonel Presley M. Rixey. The trial took place on the island of Guam, but received little press in the States.

ARM2c  Lloyd Richard Woellhof, USNR (KS) (POW 7-4-44, executed 8-7-44)
Unknown Flyer, Radioman (POW 7-4-44, executed 8-7-44)
ARM3c James Wesley Dye, Jr., USN (POW 2-18-45, executed 2-24-45)
ARM3c Marvie William Mershon, USNR, (POW 2-18-45, executed 2-22-45)
AOM3c Grady Alvan York, USNR (POW 2-18-45, executed 2-28-45)
Ensign Floyd Ewing Hall, USNR (POW 2-18-45, executed 3-9-45)
ARM3c Marvie William Mershon, USNR, (POW 2-18-45, executed 2-22-45)
AOM2c Glenn J. Frazier, USNR (POW 2-18-45, executed 2-18-45)
2nd Lt Warren Earl Vaugn, USMCR, . (POW 2-23-45, executed 3-22-45)

Today
After the war, in December 1945 the US Marines took possession of the Bonin Islands. Marines destroyed and burned all equipment and buildings of military value in a demilitarizion. The island was given back to Japan in the 1980's. It is now a resport area for for skin divers and vacationers from Japan. A US Navy facility was established on the island in 1946 and operated on the island through the 1960's.

Mount Yoake & Mount Asahi Radio Stations
These are the two highest peaks on the island, the Japanese Navy had built an array of short and long range radio recievers and transmitters on their summits, these communications facilities were used to relay messages, and evesdrop on American communications. Targeted by American aircraft, this facility was defended by a concentration of anti-aircraft batteries. It was never substantially damaged, although in 1946 American occupation forces dynamited the roof. Over this target, future US President George H.W. Bush's TBM 46214 was damaged and crashed ofshore on September 2, 1944.

Chi Chi Jima Harbor
Chi Chi Jima Harbor is ringed by ridges. The Japanese also had a seaplane base on the island, likely at this harbor.

William Alderfer, USS Sperry recalls:
“I was aboard the USS Sperry AS-12 sub tender back in 1952, we set up a sub base there for about a week.  Our subs would come there and get Supplies. I went ashore and found things and places you would never think this island could have.  You could travel though the mountains in tunnels, and see all the gun in placement. There were old  torpedo laying on the ground. We found a cave full of gasoline, maybe 500 55 gallon drums. There were about 50 natives living there and grew bananas. The marines were defusing the island. There was a ship in the harbor with the side shot out. There was an airplane wing laying on the beach, it was from a bomber from the US. [Photo Archive].”

Bill Marks, USS Toleda
"Our ship visited the Bonin Islands about 1952. About 10 of us went on a swimming party just to get off the ship for a while. There was a ship with a large hole in the side about 500 hundred feet from the beach [Hinko Maru]. I attemped to swim out to the ship, but turned back because of sharks. There was an aircraft engine on the beach. The prop ends were bent back as if a plane had made a wheels up landing."