February 19, 1945, Operation Detachment, Iwo Jima

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February 19, 1945

Operation Detachment, the U.S. Marines’ invasion of Iwo Jima, is launched. Iwo Jima was a barren Pacific island guarded by Japanese artillery, but to American military minds, it was prime real estate on which to build airfields to launch bombing raids against Japan, only 660 miles away.

U.S. Marines invade Iwo Jima | February 19, 1945 | HISTORY

Operation Detachment, the U.S. Marines’ invasion of Iwo Jima, is launched. Iwo Jima was a barren Pacific island guard...

www.history.com

 

[shanneba]

On February 23, 1945, four bloody days after U.S. troops landed on Iwo Jima, Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal captured an image of Marines raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi. The photo went on to win the Pulitzer Prize and to visually define the Pacific Theater of World War II.

Joe Rosenthal’s iconic photos from Iwo Jima helped the United States raise $26 billion for the war and served as the basis for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

The Story Behind the World-Famous Photograph of U.S. Marines Raising the American Flag During the Battle of Iwo Jima

Joe Rosenthal’s iconic photos from Iwo Jima helped the United States raise $26 billion for the war and served as the basis for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

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[Gunz]

Almost 6,000 Marines killed in action in 29 days. Staggering. More than three times the number of Americans (of all branches) killed in action in twenty years in Afghanistan.

I have a packet of sand from beach Yellow One, sent to me by an old friend and fellow Marine, the late "Poppa" Gustad, who returned to the island in 2006.