February 1945 brought some of the most intense combat of the entire Pacific War. Navy carrier aircraft of Task Force 58 launched the first strikes against the Japanese home islands since the Doolittle Raid, hitting Tokyo-area airfields on February 16–17. Three days later, on February 19, the Marines of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Divisions stormed ashore on Iwo Jima, beginning one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Simultaneously on Luzon, American forces fought house-to-house through Manila while the campaign to reclaim the Philippines accelerated. The February 1945 Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin covered the Navy’s central role in these operations.
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