On this day in February 1945 on Iwo Jima, four days after the initial landings, Harold G. Schrier led a 40-man patrol up Mount Suribachi with a small American flag provided by Chandler Johnson. After a brief firefight with Japanese defenders, the flag—reportedly obtained from the attack transport USS Missoula (APA‑211)—was raised over the crater. Later that day, a larger eight-foot ensign from the tank landing ship LST‑779 replaced it. As Marines struggled to hoist the second flag, John H. Bradley and fellow servicemen were captured on film by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, creating one of the most iconic photographs of the twentieth century.

Image credit: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press |Wikimedia Commons