Sixty years ago today, first one, then another (see picture) US flag was raised at the top of Mt Suribachi on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima.
For over a month, it was the most densely populated battlefield on Earth, with about 100,000 American and Japanese soldiers fighting it out over an island half the size of Manhattan.
A third of all US Marines killed in action in World War II died on Iwo. 6,800 US troops were killed, and another 26,000 injured. On the Japanese side, 22,000 died.
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