Iwo Jima- Feb 19 1945

Iwo Jima was an island of volcanic rock and is located halfway between Saipan and Japan. In enemy hands, it was an obstacle to B-29 formations en route to Japan and was a staging area for enemy aircraft strikes against B-29 bases in the Marianas. After weeks of Air Force and Navy aerial bombardment and shelling, we Marines assaulted Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. Stubborn enemy troops resisted fanatically and the island was not secured until late March and then at a cost of nearly 7,000 American troops killed or wounded. Despite the high cost, the island would prove a haven to more than 24,000 B-29 crewmen whose planes used its emergency landing strips during the remainder of the war.

http://www.rjgeib.com/heroes/tanimizu/tarawa-marine-invasion.html