Iwo Jima Iwo Jima , officially , is an island of the Japan ese Volcano Islands chain south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago also known as the Bonin Islands . The island of 21 km is south of mainland Tokyo and is administered as part of Ogasawara , one of the eight villages of Tokyo ( though it is uninhabited ) . It is famous as the setting of the February 1945 – March 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and the Empire of Japan during World War II . The island grew in recognition in the west when the iconic photograph " Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima " was taken on Mount Suribachi , the highest point at 160 m , during the battle by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal . The US occupied Iwo Jima until 1968 when it was returned to Japan . Name . It was discovered by Spanish sailor Bernardo de la Torre who named it Sufre Island , after the old Spanish term for sulphur . In 1779 , the island was charted as Sulphur Island , the literal translation of its official name , during Captain James Cook ' s third surveying voyage . The historical spelling " iwautau " had come to be pronounced ( approximately ) " Iwō - tō " by the age of Western exploration , and the 1946 orthography reform fixed the spelling and pronunciation at " Iō - tō " . An alternative , " Iwō - jima " , modern " Iō - jima " , also appeared in nautical atlases . " Tō " and " shima " are different readings of the kanji for , the " shima " is changed to " jima " in this case . Japanese naval officers who arrived to fortify the island before the US invasion mistakenly called it " Iwo Jima " . In this way , the " Iwo Jima " reading became mainstream and was the one used by US forces who arrived during World War II . Former island residents protested against this rendering , and the Ministry of Land , Infrastructure and Transport ' s Geographical Survey Institute debated the issue and formally announced on June 18 , 2007 , that the official Japanese pronunciation of the island ' s name would revert to the pre - war " Iō - tō " . Moves to revert the pronunciation were sparked by the high profile films " Flags of Our Fathers " and " Letters from Iwo Jima " . The change does not affect how the name is written with kanji , " " , only how it is pronounced or written in hiragana , katakana and rōmaji . Geographic features . The island has an approximate area of . The most prominent feature is Mount Suribachi on the southern tip , a vent that is thought to be dormant and is high . Named after a Japanese grinding b owl , the summit of Mount Suribachi is the highest point on the island . Iwo Jima is unusually flat and featureless for a volcanic island . Suribachi is the only obvious volcanic feature , as it is only the resurgent dome ( raised centre ) of a larger submerged volcanic caldera . Captain Cook ' s surveying crew in 1776 to 1779 landed on a beach which is now above sea level due to volcanic uplifting . Such uplifting occurs on the island at a varying rate of between per year , with an average rate of per year . Forty - three nautical miles ( 50 mi , 80 km ) north of the island is and south lies , with the three islands making up the Volcano Islands group of the Ogasawara Islands . Just south of Minami - Iō - jima are the Mariana Islands . Iwo Jima has a history of minor volcanic activity a few times per year ( fumarole s , and their resultant discolored patches of seawater nearby ) , but so far no sign of a big eruption coming . The latest activity was in May 2012 ( fumarole s and discolored patches of seawater ) . History . Pre - 1945 . It was discovered in October 1543 by Spanish sailor Bernardo de la Torre on board of carrack " San Juan de Letrán " when trying to return from Sarangani to New Spain . Before World War II Iwo Jima was administered as Iōjima village and was ( as it is today ) part of Tokyo . A census in June 1943 reported an island civilian population of 1018 ( 533 males , 485 females ) in 192 households in six settlements . The island had a primary school , a Shinto shrine , and a single police officer ; it was serviced by a mail ship from Haha - jima once a month , as well as a Nippon Yusen ship once every couple of months . The island ' s economy relied upon sulfur mining , sugarcane farming , and fishing ; an isolated island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with poor economic prospect , Iwo Jima had to import all rice and consumer goods from the Home Islands . Even before the beginning of World War II , there was a garrison of the Imperial Japanese Navy at the southern part of Iwo Jima . It was off - limits to the island ' s civilian population , who already had little contact with the naval personnel , except for trade purposes . Throughout 1944 , Japan conducted a massive military buildup on Iwo Jima in anticipation of a US invasion . In July 1944 , the island ' s civilian population was forcibly evacuated , and no civilians have permanently settled on the island since . The Battle of Iwo Jima . The invasion of Iwo Jima began on February 19 , 1945 , and continued to March 26 , 1945 . The battle was a major initiative of the Pacific Campaign of World War II . The Marine invasion , known as Operation Detachment , was charged with the mission of capturing the airfield s on the island which up until that time had harried US bombing missions to Tokyo . Once the bases were secured , they could then be of use in the impending invasion of the Japanese mainland . The battle was marked by some of the fiercest fighting of the War . The Imperial Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified , with vast bunker s , hidden artillery , and 18 kilometres ( 11 mi ) of tunnels . The battle was the first US attack on the Japanese Home Islands and the Imperial soldiers defended their positions tenaciously . Of the 21 , 000 Japanese soldiers present at the beginning of the battle , over 19 , 000 were killed and only 1 , 083 taken prisoner . One of the first objectives after landing on the beachhead was the taking of Mount Suribachi . At the second raising of a flag on the peak , Joe Rosenthal photographed six Marines : Ira Hayes , Mike Strank , Rene Gagnon , Harlon Block , Franklin Sousley , and US Navy corpsman John Bradley raising the United States flag on the fourth day of the battle ( February 23 ) . The photograph was extremely popular , being reprinted in thousands of publications . It won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography that same year , and ultimately came to be regarded as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war , and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time . Within the next month of fighting , three of the Marines raising the flag were killed : Strank , Block and Sousley . Contrary to popular belief , the famous picture of the six men raising the flag was not the first flag raising on the Island . Another smaller flag had been raised a few hours earlier by five other Marines who were the first to the top of Suribachi . The second flag was raised by these six after the Secretary of the Navy asked for the original flag that had been raised . After the fall of Mt . Suribachi in the south , the Japanese still held a strong position throughout the island . General Tadamichi Kuribayashi still had the equivalent of eight infantry battalions , a tank regiment , two artillery , and three heavy mortar battalions , plus the 5 , 000 gunners and naval infantry . With the landing area secure , more troops and heavy equipment came ashore and the invasion proceeded north to capture the airfields and the remainder of the island . Most Japanese soldiers fought to the death . On the night of March 25 , a 300 - man Japanese force launched a final counterattack led by Kuribayashi . He was killed in the battle and his body hidden , his ivory handled pistol was captured by one Marine . The Marines suffered heavy casualties ; more than 50 were killed and another 119 Americans were wounded . The island was officially declared " secured " the following morning . According to the US Navy , " The 36 - day ( Iwo Jima ) assault resulted in more than 26 , 000 American casualties , including 6 , 800 dead . " To put that into context , the 82 - day Battle of Okinawa lasted from early April until mid - June 1945 and US ( five Army and two Marine Corps Divisions ) casualties were over 62 , 000 of whom over 12 , 000 were killed or missing , while the Battle of the Bulge lasted 40 days ( 16 Dec 44 – 25 Jan 45 ) with almost 90 , 000 US casualties consisting of 19 , 000 killed , 47 , 500 wounded , and 23 , 000 captured or missing . After Iwo Jima was declared secured , about three thousand Japanese soldiers were left alive in the island ' s warren of caves and tunnels . Those who could not bring themselves to commit suicide hid in the caves during the day and came out at night to prowl for provisions . Some did eventually surrender and were surprised that the Americans often received them with compassion — offering them water , cigarettes , or coffee . The last of these stragglers , two of Lieutenant Toshihiko Ohno ' s men ( Ohno ' s body was never found ) , Yamakage Kufuku and Matsudo Linsoki , lasted 3 and half years , surrendering on January 6 , 1949 ) . The US military occupied Iwo Jima until 1968 , when it was returned to Japan . It has been reported that many of the Japanese remains in Iwo Jima are missing their skulls . It is possible that the souvenir collection of body remains continued also in the immediate post - war period . ( See American mutilation of Japanese war dead ) Reunion of Honor . On February 19 , 1985 , the 40th anniversary of the day that US forces began the assault on the island , veterans from both forces gathered for the Reunion of Honor just a few meters away from the spot where US Marines had landed on the island . During the memorial service a granite plaque was unveiled with the message : On the 40th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima , American and Japanese veterans met again on these same sands , this time in peace and friendship . We commemorate our comrades , living and dead , who fought here with bravery and honor , and we pray together that our sacrifices on Iwo Jima will always be remembered and never be repeated . It is inscribed on both sides of the plaque , with the English translation facing the beaches where US forces landed and the Japanese translation facing inland , where Japanese troops defended their position . After that , the Japan - US combination memorial service of the 50th anniversary was held in front of this monument in March 1995 . The 55th anniversary was held in 2000 , followed by a 60th reunion in March 2005 ( see US National Park Service photo below ) . Japanese military base . The Japan Maritime Self - Defense Force ( JMSDF ) operates a naval air base on the island at North Field . The airstrip is 2 , 650 meters ( 8 , 700 ft ) long and 60 meters ( 200 ft ) wide . Its orientation is 07 / 25 . The JMSDF is in charge of support , air traffic control , fueling , and rescue . The Japan Air Self - Defense Force also uses the base . The Japan Ground Self - Defense Force is in charge of explosive - ordnance disposal , and maintains a garrison of 400 troops on the island . Two abandoned airfields from World War II are nearby , Central Field to the south of the current air base , and an unfinished Japanese airfield to the north of the base , which was improved after the US invasion of the island . The US Navy ' s Carrier Air Wing Five , based at the United States Naval Air Facility Atsugi when not embarked / deployed aboard , also uses the base for field carrier landing practice ( FCLP ) . The US Navy still has a disused communication facility ( Iwo - Jima Communication Site ) on the island , while the US Coast Guard ' s Iwo Jima LORAN - C transmitter facility was transferred to Japan in 1993 and demolished in 1994 . Civilian access to the island is restricted to those attending memorial services for US and Japanese fallen soldiers , construction workers for the naval air base , and meteorological agency officials . The Japanese troops stationed on the island register their residential addresses in Ayase , Kanagawa or Sayama , Saitama for voting , tax , and social security purposes . Officially , there is no population on the island . US nuclear arms base . Iwo Jima appears to be one of a number of Japanese islands which has been used by the United States to host nuclear arms , according to Robert S . Norris , William M . Arkin , and William Burr writing for the " Bulletin of Atomic Scientists " in early 2000 . This is despite a Japanese policy of not allowing nuclear weapons on Japanese soil . Whether the site is used for this purpose is unknown , as great secrecy surrounds the United States ’ siting of nuclear arms bases ; but on December 12 , 1999 , US Under Secretary for Defense Policy Walter Slocombe told " The New York Times " , “ Our position is that there have been no violations of our obligations under the security treaty and related arrangements . ” Norris , Arkin and Burr concluded however : There were nuclear weapons on Chichi Jima and Iwo Jima ( Iwo To ) , an enormous and varied nuclear arsenal on Okinawa , nuclear bombs ( without their fission cores ) stored on the mainland at Misawa and Itazuki airbases ( and possibly at Atsugi , Iwakuni , Johnson , and Komaki airbases as well ) , and nuclear - armed US Navy ships stationed in Sasebo and Yokosuka . " [ … ] " Chichi Jima , Iwo Jima , and Okinawa were under US occupation , that the bombs stored on the mainland lacked their plutonium and / or uranium cores , and that the nuclear - armed ships were a legal inch away from Japanese soil . All in all , this elaborate stratagem maintained the technicality that the United States had no nuclear weapons “ in Japan . ”