The Battle of Iwo Jima, February 19 - March 26, 1945: A turning point in World War II’s Pacific Campaign occurred on Iwo Jima, a volcanic island south of the Ogasawara Islands and north of the Marianas in the Pacific Ocean. History records that neither the Americans nor the Japanese considered surrender when the battle began. The capture of three Japanese-held airfields by U.S. forces resulted in 6,891 American dead and 18,070 wounded. Approximately 19,000 Japanese died. Joe Rosenthal’s photograph of five Marines and one Navy Corpsman raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi immortalized the United States Marine Corps and became the iconic symbol of the Marine Corps. A bronze replica of Rosenthal’s photograph centers the Iwo Jima Memorial near Washington, D. C. The Battle of Iwo Jima also resulted in 27 Medals of Honor, the most awarded from any World War II operation.
Approximately 60 million people or 2.5% of the world’s population died in World War II (1939-1945).