IWO JIMA – Eighty years ago, U.S. Marines launched one of the most brutal and iconic assaults of World War II on the remote volcanic island of Iwo Jima. To this day, veterans return to honor the fallen and remember the horrors they endured.

It was in February of 1945 when nearly 70,000 U.S. Marines landed on this fierce battleground. What they encountered was unlike anything they'd faced before – an enemy they couldn't see, a battlefield designed to kill, and a fight that would test every ounce of courage.

Iwo Jima Veteran Frank Wright recalls, "They were fighting with anything they had, it was just immediate. They were fighting with shovels. They were fighting with rocks. They were fighting with their guns. Anything that they had… We weren't going down again. We took that."

The Japanes

See Full Page