World War II Photograph

United States World War II photograph

A weary Marine is snapped by a Coast Guard combat photographer sprawled in slumber on Iwo Jima’s ashy sands and gripping his sheath knife against enemy intrusion upon his rest. It is during a lull in the fighting to secure the Iwo beachhead, when Marines and Coast Guardsmen caught what sleep they could in foxholes and shell craters.

National Archives and Records Administration (26-G-03284511)