Photo #: NH 65317
Iwo Jima Operation, 1945
"Death on the Deck of an LCI....Iwo Jima --- Americans died
at their gun posts as enemy fire crashed aboard this LCI while
assault boats headed in to the landing beaches on Iwo Jima. In
the picture, the dead and injured gun crewmen still lie on the
deck as another ship puts alongside to give aid. Groups (of)
troops are still engaged in bitter and costly fighting on the
tiny Jap island." Quoted from the original picture caption
released for publication on 26 February 1945 by Commander in
Chief, Pacific.
This image shows one of several Landing Craft Infantry (Gunboat)s
[LCI(G)] that were badly shot up by Japanese defenses on 17 February
1945, while supporting Underwater Demolition Teams off Iwo Jima.
Note the 40mm single gun in the foreground, shell fragment damage
to the ship's conning tower, and her pattern camouflage.
The original photograph came from the illustrations package for
Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison's "History of United States
Naval Operations in World War II", volume XIV: "Victory
in the Pacific".
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the
Naval Historical Center.
Online Image: 97KB; 615 x 765 pixels |
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