The United States Marines On Iwo Jima The Battle And The Flag Raising

"Investigating Iwo encourages us to explore the connection between American visual culture and World War II, particularly how the image inspired Marines, servicemembers, and civilians to carry on with the war and to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure victory over the Axis Powers. Chapters shed light on the processes through which history becomes memory and gains meaning over time. The contributors ask only that we be willing to take a closer look, to remain open to new perspectives that can deepen our understanding of familiar topics related to the flag raising, including Rosenthal's famous picture, that continue to mean so much to us today"--

A definitive account of the battle of Iwo Jima, from its origins to its hard-fought conclusion. One of the decisive battles of the Second World War in the Pacific, Iwo Jima was described by Lieutenant-General Holland Smith, Commander Fleet Marine Forces Pacific, as 'The most savage and most costly battle in the history of the Marine Corps' - a titanic struggle that eclipsed all that had gone before. Situated halfway along the B-29 Superfortress route to the Japanese mainland, the island was of major strategic importance to the US Air Force, but also to the Japanese, 20,000 of whom were deeply entrenched in the island.

This concise narrative of the Marine battle for Iwo Jima and the events surrounding the famous flag raisings atop Mount Suribachi is an updated revision of one of the most popular works ever produced by the History and Museums Division. Compiled from original records and appropriate historical works and printed as two separate reference books in 1962, the chronicle was combined into one volume in 1967. This revision of the 1967 edition adds significant new material on the two flag raisings on Iwo Jima as well as updated biographical material on some of the flag raisers. Also included because of the immense interest in the Marine Corps War Memorial, is a fact sheet on the construction of the Memorial, along with other pertinent information on the monument.