In 1945, the United States wanted an emergency air base for its coming bombing campaign against Japan. It was decided that base would be Iwo Jima, a Pacific Island heavily defended by the Japanese. U.S. Marines invaded on February 19, 1945, and their images were captured on film as the battle for the island unfolded. Surviving soldiers commemorate the battle in 1995 by returning to the island, and the stories they tell, illustrated by the startlingly vivid half-century old footage, couldn’t feel more alive or chilling.  RR