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An Anniversary Passes Quietly




An important date in American history passed quietly, Sunday, Feb. 23. There were no TV specials, no parades, no speeches to mark its passing.

Sunday was the 69th anniversary of the raising of the American flag over the island of Iwo Jima.

Late in World War II, U.S. forces were waging their “island-hopping” campaign, capturing Pacific Islands to use as bases in the battle against the Japanese Empire.

Japanese commanders knew they could not repel the U.S. Marines; their strategy was to inflict so many casualities on the Americans that they would give up the attack.

Over 36 days, starting Feb. 19, 1945, the Marines threw themselves against heavily-fortified Japanese defenses. When it was over, 6,800 Americans were dead. Japanese losses exceeded 18,000.

Four days into the campaign, on Feb. 23, a 40-man Marine patrol climbed the island’s 500-foot Mt. Suribachi. Finding a piece of steel pipe, they raised the U.S. Flag. Later the same day, a second unit was sent to raise a larger flag. The photo taken of that event became one of the most iconic of the war.

By August of that year, the war was over.

While the battle may not rate a blip on 21st-century media radar, it still is worth a moment’s reflection on those who fought and those who died for an eight square-mile volcanic island.



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