The battle of Iwo Jima proved to be the Marines toughest battle of the Pacific War. From what was predicted to be a 10-day battle, the Marines ran into the Japanese troops of General Tadamichi Kuribayashi's 106th Division. In what turned out to be a 36-day battle, the Marines lost over 6,000 men and the Japanese Garrison was virtually wiped out. No other image of World War II has captured the spirit of the US Marines in that conflict as that of the flag raising on Mount Surabaci on 23 February 1945.
Quoting the words of Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz "Among the Americans who served on Iwo Jima, Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue".
The Medal of Honor, The United States' highest military decoration, was awarded to 27 combatants at Iwo Jima. 22 US Marines, 4 Navy Corpsmen and 1 Navy officer, 13 of which were awarded posthumously. A testament of the ferocity of the Battle for Iwo Jima can be gauged from the fact that of the all of the medals awarded to US Marines in WW II, fully one third of them were awarded at Iwo Jima.