THE PHOTO OF WORLD WAR II IS A REMINDER OF HOW DEADLY THE BATTLE OF IWO JIMA REALLY WAS.

 THE PHOTO OF WORLD WAR II IS A REMINDER OF HOW DEADLY THE BATTLE OF IWO JIMA REALLY WAS.

"Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" — the black and white photo depicting five Marines and a Navy corpsman planting a US flag after a bloody battle for the island. 

The Most Iconic Photo Of World War II Is A Reminder Of How Deadly The Battle Of Iwo Jima Really Was

"Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" — the black and white photo depicting five Marines and a Navy corpsman planting a US flag after a bloody battle for the island — may be the Second World War's most iconic photo.

Though the image is one of triumph, it was taken just days into a battle that would last more than a month.

Half of the six soldiers depicted died — among 6,821 Americans — on the very same island they claimed as part of the US' island-hopping strategy of claiming the Pacific theater; Franklin Sousley, Michael Strank, and Harlon Block all left their lives in Iwo Jima.

The longest-lived was John Bradley, the only non-Marine, who died in 1994. The AP photographer behind the image, Joe Rosenthal, died in 2006.

 He'd been too nearsighted for military service, but had an eye for a photograph that would earn him a Pulitzer Prize the year it was taken.

It's worth noting that the tweeted photo contains an error. For a time it was thought that the soldier on the far right was Henry Hanson (he, too, would die on Iwo Jima). The sixth man was in fact Harlon Block.

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