Dwight Carter, 86, of Hobart, Indiana will leave Thursday for Iwo Jima, Japan where he'll meet 30 other veterans.
Carter says when he was on the island he saw the scene immortalized in Joe Rosenthal's photo "On Top of Mount Suribachi". The marine was also part of the first assault wave in 1945.
"Everything had broken loose because Suribachi, Mount Suribachi was over here. They were shelling at us so you really couldn't hear anything. The adrenaline was flowing," said Carter.
By the time the island was captured, 6,800 members of the American military had died.
Carter says he was one of six survivors in his outfit.
