Onto the Black Shores of Hell

On February 19, 1945, thousands of Marines landed on the black shores of a tiny volcanic island in the Pacific. The fight that was supposed to take only 3 days lasted well over a month. The battle for Iwo Jima, known to many only for one picture, became one of the bloodiest in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps. It was the only battle in which the Marine Corps casualties exceeded the Japanese. In just over a month of fighting 27 Medals of Honor were awarded, more than any other battle in U.S. history. Of the original 22,000 Japanese defenders only 216 would surrender.