Background: The island of Iwo Jima literally means sulphur island. Iwo Jima is a small eight mile island in a string of volcanic islands called the Bonin Islands, just of the coast of Japan. The tallest point on the island is Mount Suribachi, this mountain will soon become an important land mark for the U.S. troops. Iwo Jima was a necessary island for the U.S. to obtain. The island was exactly big enough to land a B-29 aircrafts on there way to Japan. When the U.S. sent ariel forces to survey the island it seemed empty; however, we will soon find out that was not the case.