The film, which also features John Agar, Adele Mara and Forrest Tucker, was written by Harry Brown and James Edward Grant, and directed by Allan Dwan.

Sands of Iwo Jima was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (John Wayne), Best Film Editing, Best Sound Recording (Daniel J. Bloomberg) and Best Writing, Motion Picture Story.

[2] Corporal Robert Dunne recounts the story of tough-as-nails career Marine Sergeant John Stryker.

Stryker, whose wife left him years ago and took custody of their son, drinks himself to submission and has to be saved from a naval shore patrol by his men.

The platoon commander, Lieutenant Baker, is killed seconds after he lands on the beach, and PFCs "Farmer" Soames and "Ski" Choynski are wounded.

As a result, he returns too late — the two Marines run out of ammunition, and Hellenopolis is killed, while Bass is badly wounded.

Stryker and his squad are deployed to the battle of Iwo Jima where they suffer heavy casualties within the first couple of hours, with McHugh and PFC Harris being killed, and Soames and Frank Flynn being wounded.

Although the original use and implied meaning are disputed, it typically described the action of arming an M1 Garand rifle by first locking the bolt back by pulling the charging handle rearward and then loading an 8 round clip into its magazine.

Also appearing as themselves are 1st Lt. Harold Schrier, who led the flag-raising patrol up Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima and helped raise the first flag, Col. David M. Shoup, later Commandant of the Marine Corps and recipient of the Medal of Honor at Tarawa, and Lt. Col. Henry P. "Jim" Crowe, commander of the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines at Tarawa, where he earned the U.S. Navy Cross.

Scenes were filmed at the Marine Corps Base at Camp Pendleton, Leo Carrillo State Beach, Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, Janss Conejo Ranch, Thousand Oaks, Republic Studios and Universal Studios.

The episode "Call of Silence" (2004) in NCIS's season 2 references the film and a documentary as shared background to Marine history and legacy.

The Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers have a song title "The Sands of Iwo Jima" on their 2004 album The Dirty South.