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Photographer Joe Rosenthal admitted that when he took a shot of five Marines and one Navy corpsman raising the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima’s Mt. Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945, he had no idea that he had captured something extraordinary. He was setting up for a different shot when he spotted the group of men planting the flag and quickly took a snap without even looking through the viewfinder. The chance photo would become iconic overnight and go on to win the Pulitzer Prize.

Seventy three years ago today the United States Marine Corps sent waves of teenaged men onto the black foreboding beaches on a Japanese held island called Iwo Jima. Capturing Iwo Jima was essential to the American war against Japan as it offered a place for battered bombers to safely land which would save the lives of hundreds of airmen returning from sorties over Japan in barely flyable planes. The average age of these men was just under nineteen. They knew what was at stake and charged up Iwo’s beaches sometimes straight into enemy machine gun fire that would have stopped...

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Marine Corps says it has begun investigating whether it mistakenly identified one of the men shown raising the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima in one of the iconic images of World War II after two amateur history buffs began raising questions about the picture. The Marines announced its inquiry more than a year after Eric Krelle, of Omaha, Nebraska, and Stephen Foley, of Wexford, Ireland, began raising doubts about the identity of one man. In November 2014, the Omaha World-Herald published an extensive story about their claims and Saturday was the first to report the...

Naoto Kan became only the second Japanese prime minister to visit the World War II battlefield of Iwo Jima Tuesday. He came to pay his respects to over 21,000 Japanese soldiers who fell in battle on the Pacific island -- many whose bodies are only now being recovered by archaeologist on the island. The battle of Iwo Jima began on February 19, 1945, and continued to March 26, 1945... The Imperial Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified, with vast bunkers, hidden artillery, and 18 kilometers (11 mi) of tunnels. The battle was the first U.S. attack on...

Survivors Reunite at Iwo Jima on Anniversary of Key World War II Battle Mar 12, 2004 By Eric Talmadge/ Associated Press Writer IWO JIMA, Japan (AP) - Elderly American and Japanese veterans who fought at Iwo Jima placed wreaths before a monument on the tiny island Friday to mark the 59th anniversary of the battle that turned the tide against Tokyo in World War II. Nearly 7,000 Americans and virtually all of the 22,000 Japanese troops deployed here died during 36 days of fierce fighting in 1945. The 25 Americans and three Japanese, most in their 80s, were joined Friday...