February 23, 1945
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Within a month, three of the six Marines pictured were killed in battle; the remaining three became celebrities in a savings bond drive. The photo, the second taken of a flag raising on Mount Suribachi that day, February 23, 1945, won the Pulitzer Prize for Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. The flag and the smaller one used in the earlier flag-raising are in the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia.
6,821 Americans were killed during the Battle of Iwo Jima, 19,217 wounded. 18,844 Japanese were killed, 216 taken prisoner, 3,000 in hiding.