"The Battle of Iwo Jima, a major event in the Pacific Theater of World War II--and one of the bloodiest in United States history--began on February 19, 1945. But what happened two days earlier has largely been a footnote, until now... On February 17, Landing Craft Infantry 449 was among a dozen gunboats helping to prepare the area for their invasion two days later. U.S. military leaders thought they had weakened Japanese forces in the area so they...

John Wayne, a tough Marine sergeant, takes recruits and makes them Marines. He does it with discipline and authority... and with his fists when he has to. The men begin to understand when they see him in action and he earns their respect. Film follows a group of Marines from boot camp to the Battle of Iwo Jima. Film contains recreation of the scene on top of Mount Suribachi, the peak immortalized by the famous photograph of the American flag being...

Sixty-one years ago, the United States and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, hundreds of letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them. Leading the defense is Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. With little defense other than sheer will and the volcanic rock of the island itself, Gen. Kuribayashi's unprecedented tactics...