Iwo Jima:

The Battle of Iwo Jima was in early 1945 one of the fiercest and most costly battles of World War II. Between the Japanese and the U.S., over 25,000 lives were lost in the battle over this roughly 15 sq. mile island. Despite heavy bombardment for three months by the U.S. air force, the Japanese occupation forces at Iwo Jima held fast in their trenches. After a month of the most grueling combat in Marine history, the United States had secured the island at a cost of 6,000 American lives. However, the captured island served as the first U.S. air base close enough to Japan to allow medium bombers to execute bombing runs on the Japanese mainland.

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