Professional WWII historian here: <snip>
I'm sure no doubt you've been to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans? I love the museum having grown up as a toddler at activities of our local American Legion Hall under WWII veterans. My dad fought in Peleliu, Okinawa and a few other places and all my uncles of age during the war were vets, his cousins were vets and his buddies were vets. Dad said that Okinawa was war and it was hell, but he really, really, really hated Peleliu.
The WWII museum offers travel packages and in 2019 my wife and I took their Victory in the Pacific tour which included Hawaii, Saipan, Tinian, Guam and Iwo Jima. We enjoyed lectures and guidance from historians Mr. Richard Frank and Mr. Jonathan Parshall. We had WWII vets that honored us with their presence. We attended the 74th Iwo Jima commemoration (The Commandant of the Marine Corps spoke and his speech was awesome) and overall it was a wonderful trip. We included an adder to Peleliu and after trudging through the jungle and seeing the island's topography I understand why Dad could hate it so much.
The owner of the Peleliu museum took several of us on a day trip after the official travel was complete. The amount of unexploded ordnance we saw was amazing. We even went across to Ngesebus Island and I got to see the Japanese bunker that Eugene Sledge wrote about in his book, "With the Old Breed". He also took us to the final Japanese HQ location which my dad fought at....that some say is not the final location. When you look at the 81st Wildcat newsletter they have a picture of the final location of the Japanese HQ and the location he brought us too matched the picture exactly.
I'm glad you've joined our little community.