article_snippet: In this February 23, 1945 file photo, U.S. Marines raise a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima.
article_snippet: The Fifth Division Marine invaders make The Fifth Division Marine invaders way up the beach of Iwo Jima in 1945 .
article_snippet: Also speaking were U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Gen. Joseph Dunford, the commandant of the Marine Corps, who noted that the Battle of Iwo Jima remains the 'very ethos' of the Marine Corps today. '
article_snippet: the Battle of Iwo Jima lasted about a month after U.S. forces landed in February 1945.
article_snippet: the United States Marines invaded Iwo Jima in February 1945, and it was only declared secured after more than a month of fighting.
article_snippet: the Japanese island of Iwo Jima was declared secure on March 16, 1945, but skirmishes continued.
article_snippet: The United States returned the Japanese island of Iwo Jima to Japan in 1968.
article_snippet: Though the idea of developing the Japanese island of Iwo Jima has been mulled for decades, and possibly using the Japanese island of Iwo Jima natural hot springs as an attraction, the Japanese island of Iwo Jima is virtually untouched other than the small airfield used by Japanese.
article_snippet: Though a tiny volcanic crag, the island — now called Ioto or Iwoto on Japanese maps — was deemed strategically important because Japanese maps — was being used by Japanese to launch air attacks on American bombers.
article_snippet: Iwo Jima, now known officially as Ioto, is seen from an airplane in Japan, Saturday, March 21, 2015.  
article_snippet: The only surviving Medal of Honor recipient from Iwo Jima,
highlights_snippet: The Battle of Iwojima lasted about a month .
  