Marines hit the beach and charge over a dune on Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands Feb. 19, 1945, the start of one of the deadliest battles of the war against Japan.(rudeerude)

Marines hit the beach

U.S. Marines walk amid wreckage of Japanese planes alongside Motoyamo Airstrip No. 1 that were destroyed during aerial bombing and naval shelling prior to American invasion of Iwo Jima,March 1, 1945.(rudeerude)

Iwo Jima

Two U.S. Marines, slumped in death, lie where they fell on Iwo Jima, among the first victims of Japanese gunfire as the American conquest of the strategic Japanese Volcano Island begins on Feb. 19, 1945