Sixty seven years ago this week the Marines landed on Iwo Jima securing the island so it could be used an an emergency airfield for crippled B-29 Superfortress's flying back to the Marianas islands.
This photo taken day 3 of the operation by Joe Rosenthal went around the world and is the most duplicated picture form WWII. The six men Ira Hayes, Mike Strank, Rene Gagnon, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, and U.S. Navy corpsman John Bradley raised the U.S. flag. Within days, three of the Marines raising the flag were killed: Strank, Block and Sousley.
This action during the war forever linked the 4th Marine Division and the 20th Air Force. Countles airman's lives were saved including my father in law by being able to divert to Iwo Jima.
Semper Fi
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