1945

Don MacArthur 1952

Sean Prizeman 1995

Location
Iwo Jima means 'Sulphur Island' in Japanese. Part of the volcano island chain, Iwo Jima is just under five miles long and two and a half miles wide at its widest point and has been described by many as a 'pork chop' shape when viewed from the air. Located south and west of the midpoint between Tokyo and Saipan. The island has no source of drinkable water.

History
Defended by approximately 22,000 Japanese that prepared island defenses and pre-sighting the invasion beaches. The island's airfields and radar provided an early warning system and interception point for the Japanese, when American B-29 would pass the island on their way to Japan. For this reason, it was selected for assault.

American Missions Against Iwo Jima
July 4, 1944 - February 27, 1945

American Assault
US Marines landed on February 19, 1945. The first day saw 2,400 American casualties. During the battle US. Marines, sailors and soldiers killed an estimated 20,000 Japanese and captured over 1,000 prisoners. On March 25, the Battle of Iwo Jima was declared over and the island secured, although mopping up continued until July. US Army units, including the 147th Infantry After the battle, the island's airfields were in range of Japan for aircraft.

Today
American forces maintained a base on Iwo through the Korean War. The island was a U.S. territory under military control until it was returned to Japan in 1968. The last American presence, a Coast Guard unit, left the island in October 1993. Today the island is a Japanese Self Defense Force base. It is off limits to tourists, aside for the annual memorial services once a year.

Mount Surabachi
555' volcano on the southern end of Iwo Jima, the highest point on the island. The Japanese tunneled a seven-story interior structure. Heavily bombed and napalmed by American aircraft during the assault. The summit was captured on February 23, 1945.

First Flag Raising
The first, less famous flag raising occurred at 10am when Easy Company, 28th Regiment, 5th Marine Division raised a small flag on Mount Surabachi.

Second Flag Raising
Later that day, another group raised a larger flag on the summit, immortalized by photographer Joseph Rosenthal.

Mount Surabachi Memorial
American Memorial located at the summit of Mount Surabachi at the location of the flag raising.

Japanese Bunkers & Tunnels
Prior to the American assault, the Japanese built 16 miles of tunnels into Iwo Jima for defenses and living quarters and a hospital 46' underground. Many of these tunnels were tombs for Japanese defenders killed on the island. In 1984, three mummified Japanese soldiers were discovered in a cave.

General Kuribayashi's Command Bunker
Large tunnel complex that reaches 75' underground.

Sgt G. W. Rosson recalls from 1946:
"We went all through the General's cave down to the 2nd level. All of the halls 4 by 6 feet would go down at a 60 degree to the next level.The General's cave is 75 feet deep at the bottom floor. Lot of stories of what was in that cave, one small room had a bath tub half way in the ground. One room had chairs and tables all over the place. There were a lot of Japanese paper all over the floor. We went down to the next level it got hotter and the smell was bad. We came to the next opening going down to the next level. Since this was the General's cave we new that there had to be another way out. We found it a big wooden door that we couldn't get open. In one of the rooms there were 8 or 9 dead bodies.The smell was bad, there skin was dryed up. There were a lot of air shafts going up."