ULA_USU_P0342 Guide to the William S. Wilson Iwo Jima photographs, 1945. Wilson (William S.) Iwo Jima photographs, 1945. Finding aid created by Ryan K. Lee, December 2002. Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant, 2007-2008 Utah State University. Special Collections and Archives

Merrill-Cazier Library Utah State University 3000 Old Main Hill Logan, UT 84322-3000 Phone: 435 797-2663 Fax: 435 797-2880 Email: scweb@usu.edu

©2008 Machine-readable finding guide converted from markup derived via template in Altova XMLSpy; markup checked and completed by Todd Welch. May 25, 2008. Finding guide is in English in Latin script. Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard). May 31, 2008 Template information was updated to reflect Utah Manuscript Association best practices. Descriptive Summary Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives Division Photograph Collection

Merrill-Cazier Library Utah State University 3000 Old Main Hill Logan, UT 84322-3000 Phone: 435 797-2663 Fax: 435 797-2880 Email: scweb@usu.edu

USU_P0342 Rosenthal, Joe, 1911-2006. William S. Wilson Iwo Jima photographs 1945. 1 box 0.25 linear ft. William S. Wilson Iwo Jima Photograph collection consists of 48 5 x 7 black-and-white prints and 4 x 5 black-and-white negatives from the Battle of Iwo Jima. The photographs show the dead or injured U.S. soldiers; dead or captured Japanese soldiers; destroyed tanks, planes, and landing craft; and U.S. soldiers with guns, flamethrowers, rocket launchers, tanks, artillery, and the U.S.S. Samaritan, US Navy hospital ship. Also included in this collection is a photograph of soldiers cheering around the second flag raised atop Mt. Surabachi, taken by Joe Rosenthal. The photographs are more carefully composed and executed than typical G.I. snapshots and were probably taken by Marine Corps or Associated Press photographers. There were at least four photographers (including Joe Rosenthal, Eugene Jones, Robert R. Campbell and Louis Lowry) at the Battle of Iwo Jima. Collection materials are in English. Restrictions

Open to public research.

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Utah State University Libraries, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.

Permission to publish material from the William S. Wilson Iwo Jima photographs must be obtained from the Special Collections Photograph Curator and/or the Special Collections Department Head.

William S. Wilson Iwo Jima photographs, 1945. (P0342). Utah State University. Special Collections & Archives Department.

These images were copied from original photographs loaned by Chris Pugliese who obtained them from his grandfather William S. Wilson of Price, Utah. Mr. Wilson participated in the battle of Iwo Jima and is featured in at least one of the photographs.

Historical Note

The Battle of Iwo Jima took place from February 19th to March 25th, 1945 on an island only two miles wide and four miles long. The United States wanted to control this tiny island to shut down the airfields that launched the infamous Kamikaze planes and also to use it as an emergency landing strip for bombers that were taking off from the Mariana Islands to attack mainland Japan. What officers planned to be a week-long fight turned into one of the most deadly battles on the Pacific front. Although there were about 80,000 US Marines and 20,000 Japanese, most Marines never saw their enemy because they were concealed in an intricate underground tunnel and cave system below the volcanic sand. Iwo Jima was a very gruesome, vicious fight with machine guns, Sherman tanks, howitzers, flamethrowers (to kill the Japanese Soldiers underground), napalm, and hand grenades. Of the 80,000 U.S. Marines who fought, 1 in 3 were killed or wounded. Virtually all of the 20,000 Japanese perished or were imprisoned. 6,000 are considered to still be entombed underground. 27 Medals of Honor were awarded, more than any other single battle in US history. Although not included in this collection, Joe Rosenthal's famous photograph of six soldiers raising a flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima has become a symbol of American heroism and patriotism.

There were at least four photographers (including Joe Rosenthal, Eugene Jones, Robert R. Campbell and Louis Lowry) at the Battle of Iwo Jima. In the inventory the names of the photographers and the text in which their photos were found are noted next to their descriptions.

Organized numerical by photo number.

The William S. Wilson Iwo Jima Photograph collection consists of 48 5x7 black-and-white prints and 4x5 black and white negatives from the Battle of Iwo Jima. The photographs are a great resource in portraying the gritty reality of the Battle. They show the dead or injured U.S. Soldiers; dead or captured Japanese Soldiers; destroyed tanks, planes, and landing craft; and U.S. Soldiers with guns, flamethrowers, rocket launchers, tanks, and artillery. Also included in this collection is the famous photograph of soldiers cheering after the raising of the American Flag taken by Joe Rosenthal. The photographs are more carefully composed and executed than typical G.I. snapshots and were probably taken by Marine Corps or Associated Press photographers.

Works Cited in Inventory include:

Allen, Robert E. The First Battalion of the 28th Marines on Iwo Jima: A Day by Day History. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Company, Inc., 1999.

Bradely, James. Flags of Our Fathers. New York: Bantam Books, 2000.

Newcomb, Richard F. Iwo Jima. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965.

Wheeler, Richard. Iwo. New York: Lippincott & Crowell, 1980.

Military Wilson, William S. United States. Marine Corps--History--Photographs. Samaritan (Ship)--Photographs. Iwo Jima, Battle of, Japan, 1945--Photographs. World War, 1939-1945--Trench warfare--Japan--Iwo Jima (Volcano Islands) World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Japanese--Photographs. World War, 1939-1945--Casualties--Photographs. Container List 1 1 1:01:01 Group photo of American soldiers holding Japanese flags 1 1 1:01:02 Soldiers walking through a field of destroyed planes, possibly remnants of an airfield 1 1 1:01:03 American soldiers attempting to dig into the beach, possibly for a foxhole. Anchored ships in background 1 1 1:01:04 Soldiers hiding behind a sandhill that is littered with debris and some dead or wounded cadets 1 1 1:01:05 American camp in a small trench dotted with soldiers, possibly the wing of a low-flying plane in the upper right corner 1 1 1:01:06 The beach cluttered with wrecked Marine boats just over an hour after the first troops landed on 19 February 1945.

Official U.S. Marine Corps Photograph, taken by Eugene S. Jones. (See text by Allen, p. 29).

1 1 1:01:07 Military mechanic working under a plane, looking back at the camera and smiling 1 1 1:01:08 A patrol advances up the slopes of Mt. Suribachi among mangled wire and debris

Official U.S. Marine Corps Photograph, Photographer Unknown. (See text by Allen, p. 57).

1 1 1:01:09 Soldier sitting in a dug-out foxhole, possibly writing letters to family. Note picture of woman and other keepsakes in the hole 1 1 1:01:10 Soldiers abandoning their tanks that are stuck in deep sand

Official U.S. Marine Corps Photograph, Photographer Unknown. (See text by Allen, p. 36).

1 1 1:01:11 Bird's eye view of U.S. fighter plane with a broken wing 1 1 1:01:12 Pillars of smoke and fire rising from a destroyed Japanese military outpost 1 1 1:01:13 Posed shot of soldiers around the second flag raised atop Mt. Surabachi, cheering, 23 February 1945. (l-r) Ira Hayes (seated), unknown, Harold Schrier, Franklin Sousley (rifle in right hand), Mike Strank (thumbs in pocket), Doc Bradley (in shadow, to Strank's left), Clarence Garrett, Grady Dyce, Howard Snyder, Hank Hansen (in cap), Phil Ward, Fred Walscak, Harold Schultz, Harold Keller, Tom Hermaneck, Gerry Smith (on knees with gun raised), Mike Larson (with pistol on knee)

Photo by Joe Rosenthal (who also took the most famous photo of the Iwo Jima flag-raising), Associated Press Photographer. (See text by Bradley, photo before p. 185).

1 1 1:01:14 Mangled bodies of three dead Japanese soldiers 1 1 1:01:15 Sherman tanks and amphibian tractors destroyed by Japanese artillery after getting bogged down on beach

Official US Marine Corps Photograph, Photographer Unknown. (See text by Wheeler, p. 117 or Allen, p. 35).

1 1 1:01:16 Soldier sweeping sand in the cemetery made for American soldiers who were killed at Iwo Jima. Note the hundreds of white crosses in the background 1 1 1:01:17 Group of wounded soldiers getting ready to be transported off the island 1 1 1:01:18 One soldier blasts a cave with a flame thrower as six others look on. The soldier in the middle is William S. Wilson 1 1 1:01:19 Soldiers walking off a boat carrying wounded soldiers, possibly upon returning to the U.S. Note the men wearing civilian dress 1 1 1:01:20 Medics attending to wounded soldiers 1 1 1:01:21 Naked remains of Japanese soldiers, blasted from their underground pillbox

Photo by Joe Rosenthal, Associated Press and Wide World photographer. (See text by Newcomb, pg. 124)

1 1 1:01:22 Close-up photo of a soldier holding a small kitten 1 1 1:01:23 Three soldiers kneeling to pray in their dug-out foxhole 1 1 1:01:24 US Navy Hospital Ship, the U.S.S. Samaritan, American flag waving in the upper right corner 1 2 1:02:01 Marines salvage needed parts from vehicles destroyed on the beach

Official US Marine Corps Photograph, Photographer Unknown. (See text by Allen, p. 57).

1 2 1:02:01 Soldiers exit their transport boat and begin marching up the beaches 19 February 1945.

Official Marine Corps Photograph, taken by Robert R. Campbell. (See text by Allen, back cover)

1 2 1:02:03 A military doctor holds a vile of human blood attached to a surgical tube 1 2 1:02:04 Armed marines march up the sandy beaches on D-Day 19 February 1945.

Mt. Surabachi can be seen faintly in the distance.

1 2 1:02:05 Marines on Red Beach take heavy fire as enemy guns from Mt. Surabachi hit the shore 19 February 1945.

Official US Marine Corps Photograph, Photographer Unknown. (See text by Allen, p. 28).

1 2 1:02:06 Missile launchers release rockets from the beaches to attack Japanese bases 1 2 1:02:07 Japanese POW's are herded by U.S. Military Policemen 1 2 1:02:08 Marines pinned down on beach by enemy fire two hours after their arrival 19 February 1945.

Note their ship, LSM 206, in the background. Official U.S. Marine Corps Photograph, taken by Robert R. Cambell. (See text by Allen, p. 33).

1 2 1:02:09 Two flamethrowers spew fire into an enemy-occupied cave

Official U.S. Marine Corps Photograph, taken by Robert R. Campbell. (See text by Allen, p. 104).

1 2 1:02:10 Marines aboard a wrecked vessel, some soldiers dead or wounded 1 2 1:02:11 Military doctors tend to a wounded soldier 1 2 1:02:12 A Sherman tank is serviced in the distance. Note the destroyed enemy gun placement in the foreground

Official U.S. Marine Corps Photograph, Photographer Unknown. (See text by Allen, p. 80).

1 2 1:02:13 Two soldiers carrying guns and equipment, walking through wreckage 1 2 1:02:14 Marines laying along the sandy banks of Iwo Jima, guns propped to fire. Probably taken on 19 February 1945. 1 2 1:02:15 Soldiers hide behind a hill of sand; eight are at the crest, firing at the enemy 19 February 1945. 1 2 1:02:16 A marine points his rifle at a dead Japanese soldier who is lying on his back 1 2 1:02:17 Six marines sitting behind a pile of sandbags repairing equipment 1 2 1:02:18 Three dead soldiers lying in a depression in the ground, most likely Japanese. Note bicycle in the background 1 2 1:02:19 Three marines carry away a wounded soldier on a stretcher 1 2 1:02:20 Bodies of marines killed in action awaiting burial

Official US Marine Corps Photograph, Photographer Unknown. (See text by Allen, p. 106).

1 2 1:02:21 Sherman tanks comb the beaches of Iwo Jima 1 2 1:02:22 View of destroyed vegetation along the beach, soldiers digging holes and marching over hills. Note battleships and other military vessels anchored near the shoreline in the background 1 2 1:02:23 Posed photo of four soldiers at their machine gun post 1 2 1:02:24 Marines fire a 105mm howitzer gun to support the troops attempting to take Mt. Suribachi, late afternoon 19 February 1945.

Official US Marine Corps Photograph, Photographer Unknown. (See text by Allen, p. 48).

1 3 Negatives for 1:01:01-1:01:24 1 4 Negatives for 1:02:01-1:02:24