Fun with Maps ISSUE 2025-33

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (February 19, 2025) – In today’s edition of Fun with Maps, an intense island landing and battle for U.S. troops and an iconic photo.   

OPERATION DETACHMENT

Today is the 80th anniversary – February 19, 1945 – of the US landing at Iwo Jima.

The US Marines and Navy called it Operation Detachment, and the goal was to take over the island and its two airstrips from the Imperial Japan Army.  Fighting lasted five weeks, until March 26th.  Caves and tunnels provided refuge for the Japanese soldiers and the fierceness of their resolve meant that of the 21,000 men on the island only 216 were taken prisoner.

The battle is iconic in the American eye because of the photo taken on February 23rd by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal.  The six US Marines raising the flag at the top of Mount Suribachi became an instant symbol of American resolve to win the fight in the Pacific.  Three of the men in the photo ended up as casualties of the battle.

The photograph was awarded the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Photography and serves as the model for the Marine Corps War Memorial located near Arlington Cemetery outside DC.

The island now goes by its original name – Iwo To – Sulfur Island.

Here is Levasseur’s map of the Pacific Ocean with its islands from 1850.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.