On this day, during the battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines raise the
American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, the highest point on the island of Iwo
Jima and a key strategic point. Later, Marine commanders decide to raise
a second, larger flag, an event which an Associated Press photographer,
Joe Rosenthal, captured on film. The resulting photograph became a
defining image of the war.