Today in History

The History Channel details the account of the famous photograph of the Marines raising the flag on Mt. Suribachi, sixty years ago today:

U.S. FLAG ON IWO JIMA:
February 23, 1945

During the bloody Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Division take the crest of Mount Suribachi, the island's highest peak and most strategic position, and raise the U.S. flag. Marine photographer Louis Lowery was with them and recorded the event. American soldiers fighting for control of Suribachi's slopes cheered the raising of the flag, and several hours later more Marines headed up to the crest with a larger flag. Joe Rosenthal, a photographer with the Associated Press, met them along the way and recorded the raising of the second flag along with a motion-picture cameraman.

Fox News has a blurb, Remembering Iwo Jima:

Sixty years ago this week, a U.S. assault began on a dry spit of land in the Pacific called Iwo Jima (search) — 110,000 of our troops went up against a group of 21,000 Japanese dead-enders, each committed to kill 10 Americans before they died. Our troops prevailed, but at a great cost — 6,821 Americans died at Iwo Jima. Just getting on the island took heroic efforts. Some 2,300 Marines were killed or wounded in the first 18 hours.

The famous photo reenacting the raising of the flag on Mt. Suribachi on February 23 was not the end but just the beginning of a month more of fighting. In fact, three of the six men in that photo were later killed in Iwo Jima.

More about Iwo Jima and the famous Marine Memorial here, here, and here.