February 23

On February 23, 1945 the U.S. Marines raised the flag on Mt. Suribachi on the Japanese controlled island of Iwo Jima. This was when photographer Joe Rosenthal took the Pulitzer Prize winning picture of the flag raising. There were seven Japanese battalions on the island and 9,000 Marines were all there was to fight them. Thankfully for the U.S., the Marines were quite a force to be reckoned with. By the end of the battle 550 Marines were dead and more than 1,800 were wounded. This battle was a deciding one in the Pacific theater.