Remembering Iwo Jima

| By J. Robert Parks |

When I imagine how students think about historical events today, I sometimes remind myself what history felt like when I was growing up. I was taking history classes when the Vietnam War was still fresh and raw in people’s minds. World War II was definitely a part of history, but my grandfather had served in World War II, so it still seemed like something relevant, something I could grasp. World War I, on the other hand, felt like ancient history.

I suspect students today have a similar experience but with different wars. They might have grandparents who served in (or protested) the Vietnam War, so that could be something they feel connected to, but World War II is probably ancient history for most students today. To overcome that gulf, teachers and librarians have to find ways to bring the past into the present, and one way to do that is with iconic images, images that help students imagine what a place and time were like, so it doesn’t feel like something totally inaccessible. The famous photo of the flag raising on Iwo Jima is one such image, and Gale In Context: U.S. History has that and numerous other resources for educators looking to help make history come alive for their students.

That photo was taken eighty years ago this week, on February 23, 1945, as the U.S. military was grinding its away across the Pacific Ocean. The United States had entered the war after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The following years in the Pacific Ocean theater entailed a series of naval battles and island landings. The campaign for Guadalcanal took six months in 1942 and 1943, and the campaign for the Gilbert and Marshall Islands took another six months in 1943 and 1944. Finally, in the second half of 1944, the U.S. Navy and Marines started making incremental but steady progress, capturing Guam, the Palau Islands, and finally the Philippines.

None of those campaigns were easy, as the Japanese forces were dug in and difficult to root out. But the assault on Iwo Jima, which began on February 19, 1945, was particularly fierce. The island was only eight square miles in size, and it was defended by more than 21,000 Japanese troops. The amphibious assault involved more than 800 U.S. warships and landing craft and three U.S. Marine divisions with approximately 82,000 soldiers, including some of the Navajo Code Talkers. After several days of fighting, the Marines were able to seize Mount Suribachi at one end of the island, which is where they raised the flag.

Joseph Rosenthal, an Associated Press photographer who was with American forces on Iwo Jima, heard that Marines had raised a flag on the hill, so he went up to take a photo. It turns out that the flag the Marines initially raised was too small, so a commander had ordered the raising of a much larger flag. Rosenthal was in position to capture the image of six Marines raising the second flag, and that image was soon beamed around the United States.

It’s interesting to think about what makes an iconic image. Clearly, the fact that Rosenthal caught them in the middle of raising the flag is significant. It wouldn’t be at all the same if the flag was already raised and the servicemen were just posing in front. And it wouldn’t have been the same if it was one or two soldiers lifting it. The fact that it’s six anonymous soldiers working together to raise the U.S. flag on a barren outcrop had a visceral power that inspired the country.

The image came at a time when many Americans had grown weary of the war. Looking back, we know that the whole war would be over in less than six months, but the U.S. people didn’t know that at the time. That image helped inspire the country and was the centerpiece of a campaign to sell war bonds. Three of the six flag raisers died in the ensuing weeks of fighting on Iwo Jima, but those who survived the battle were treated as heroes and flown back to the states to help inspire the country. One of those was Ira Hayes, a member of the Gila River Indian Community. As is sometimes true with images, there’s a danger that they can obscure the reality of what they capture. When anyone thinks of Iwo Jima today, they almost certainly think of this photograph and the apparent heroism of those six people. The reality is that nearly 7,000 U.S. servicemen died on that island, and another 24,000 were wounded. Of the 21,000 Japanese defending the island, more than 20,000 were killed. But used properly, the photo can lead students to a deeper understanding of both the heroism and tragedy of a war that is, for better or worse, slipping further into history.