U.S. Marines Secured Mount Suribachi 70 Years Ago
By Space Coast Daily // March 1, 2015
battle raged February 19 to March 26, 1945
AP marks 70th anniversary of famous Iwo Jima photo from Corporate Communications on Vimeo.
ABOVE VIDEO: Seventy years ago last week, AP photographer Joe Rosenthal climbed Mt. Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. The image he captured would become renowned beyond World War II, representing the service of America’s military members.Here is the story of that photo in Joe’s own words.
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM – Seventy years ago, U.S. Marines secured Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima, beginning a long and bloody fight for control of the World War II Japanese outpost.
Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal’s image of soldiers planting an American flag atop Mount Suribachi has lived on as a symbol of the battle, winning the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for photography and inspiring the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.
The United States eventually secured the 8-square-mile island, located approximately 760 miles south of Tokyo, but not without sacrifice. American troops would fight for a month more after taking Mount Suribachi and the first of two Japanese airfields.
Capturing Iwo Jima was of strategic importance to B-29 air raids on mainland Japan. It also demonstrated to the Americans that the Japanese army would defend their lands at all costs, something which influenced United States’ decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki later that year.
Photos From the Battle of Iwo Jima to Mark Its 70th Anniversary
