Iwo Jima: “Sticks and Stones, Bits of Human Bones”

This poetically named W. Eugune Smith photo has very little romance to it. Taken as US Marine Demolition Team Basting out a cave on Hill 382, Iwo Jima, 1945, the photo, LIFE magazine which portrayed a cropped version on its April issue wrote, not only “captures an instant of violence with an almost dreamlike clarity, but also silently reminded the American public that, after four long years of a war fought halfway around the world, American troops still faced (and administered) daily, relentless destruction”.