On this day 64 years ago, during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II, United States Marines take the crest of Mount Suribachi and raise the U.S. flag. Marine photographer Louis Lowery records the historic event. Several hours later more Marines head up the crest with a larger flag, and Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal takes what will become the most reproduced photograph in history: five Marines and one Navy corpsman struggling to hoist the heavy flag pole.
The tiny volcanic island—located in the Pacific about 700 miles southeast of Japan—was to be a base for fighter aircraft and an emergency-landing site for bombers. On Feb. 19, 1945, after three days of heavy naval and aerial bombardment, the first wave of U.S. Marines stormed the island's inhospitable shores where a garrison of 22,000 heavily entrenched Japanese soldiers awaited in a system of underground tunnels.
During the next few days, the Marines slowly advanced under heavy fire from Japanese artillery. On February 23, the crest of 550-foot Mount Suribachi—the island's highest peak and most strategic position—was taken, and the next day the slopes of the extinct volcano were secured. More than 6,000 Americans died taking Iwo Jima, and some 17,000 were wounded.
HT: Frode Jensen
G. Mark Sumpter
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