Modern Era · East Asia · War

1945

Iwo Jima flag raising

February 1945

American marines stormed an eight-square-mile volcanic rock halfway to Japan and fought for thirty-six days in black ash. On the fifth day six marines raised an American flag atop Mount Suribachi. Joe Rosenthal took the photograph in one three-hundredth of a second. It became one of the most reproduced images ever made.