The west Pacific volcanic island of Iwo Jima was declared
secured by the U.S. military after weeks of fiercely fighting
its Japanese defenders.

The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese
defense of Iwo Jima in February 1944, when B-24 and B-25
bombers raided the island for 74 days straight.

When all was done, more than 6,000 Marines died fighting for the
island, along with almost all the 21,000 Japanese soldiers trying
to defend it.

February 23, 1945: During the bloody Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S.
Marines from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th
Regiment of the 5th Division took the crest of Mount Suribachi,
the island’s highest peak and most strategic position, and raised
the U.S. flag.

Marine photographer Louis Lowery, who was with them, recorded
the event. Americans fighting for control of Suribachi’s slopes
cheered the raising of the flag.

Several hours later, more Marines headed up to the crest with a
larger flag. Joe Rosenthal, a photographer with the Associated
Press, met them along the way and recorded the raising of the
second flag along with a Marine still photographer and a motion-
picture cameraman.

By March 3, U.S. forces controlled all three airfields on the island,
and on March 26 the last Japanese defenders on Iwo Jima were
wiped out. Only 200 of the original 22,000 Japanese defenders
were captured alive. More than 6,000 Americans died taking Iwo
Jima, and some 17,000 were wounded.

The second Iwo Jima flag on display in the National Museum 
of the Marine Corps.

The first U.S. flag raised on Mount Suribachi. 

President Harry Truman, left, is presented with a bronze
statue by sculptor Felix de Weldon, center, and Associated
Press photographer Joe Rosenthal at the White House in Washington on June 4, 1945.

Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima as it looks today.

            
TIM MAGUIRE

On February 8, 1943, Japanese troops evacuate Guadalcanal,
leaving the island in Allied possession after a prolonged
campaign.

The American victory paved the way for other Allied wins in
the Solomon Islands.

Guadalcanal is the largest of the Solomons, a group of 992
islands and atolls, 147 of which are inhabited, in the South
Pacific Ocean.

The Battle of Edson’s Ridge Guadalcanal.

CARLATA BRADLEY

 
1952

Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996)

Gene Kelly starred in, choreographed, and, with Stanley Donen,
co-directed some of the most well-regarded musical films of the
1940s and 1950s.

Kelly’s health declined steadily in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In July 1994, he suffered a stroke and stayed in Ronald Reagan
UCLA Medical Center hospital for seven weeks. In early 1995, he
had another stroke which made him severely disabled. Kelly died
on February 2, 1996.

1949