Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (Japanese: 硫黄島の星条旗[citation needed][relevant?], Hepburn: Iōtō no Seijōki, lit. 'The Stars and Stripes on Iōtō') is an iconic photograph of six United States Marines raising the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in the final stages of the Pacific War. Taken by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press on February 23, 1945, the photograph was published in Sunday newspapers two days later and reprinted in thousands of publications. It won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Photography and has come to be regarded in the United States as one of the most recognizable images of World War II.
The flag raising occurred in the early afternoon, after the mountaintop was captured and a smaller flag was raised on top that morning. Three of the six Marines in the photograph—Sergeant Michael Strank, Corporal Harlon Block, and Private First Class Franklin Sousley—would be killed in action during the battle; Block was identified as Sergeant Hank Hansen until January 1947 and Sousley was identified as PhM2c. John Bradley, USN, until June 2016.[1] The other three Marines in the photograph were Corporals (then Privates First Class) Ira Hayes, Harold Schultz, and Harold Keller; Schultz was identified as Sousley until June 2016[1] and Keller was identified as Rene Gagnon until October 2019.[2] All of the men served in the 5th Marine Division on Iwo Jima.
The photograph was the model for the Marine Corps War Memorial, dedicated in 1954 to honor all U.S. Marines who died in service since 1775. The memorial, sculpted by Felix de Weldon, is located in Arlington Ridge Park,[3] near the Ord-Weitzel Gate to Arlington National Cemetery and the Netherlands Carillon.
Background
[edit]On February 19, 1945, the United States invaded Iwo Jima as part of its island-hopping strategy to defeat Japan. Iwo Jima originally was not a target, but the relatively quick liberation of the Philippines left the Americans with a longer-than-expected lull prior to the planned invasion of Okinawa. Iwo Jima is located halfway between Japan and the Mariana Islands, where American long-range bombers were based, and was used by the Japanese as an early warning station, radioing warnings of incoming American bombers to the Japanese homeland. The Americans, after capturing the island, weakened the Japanese early warning system, and used it as an emergency landing strip for damaged bombers.[4]
Iwo Jima is a volcanic island, shaped like a trapezoid. From the air, it looks like a "lopsided, black porkchop".[5] The island was heavily fortified, and the invading Marines suffered high casualties. Politically, the island is part of the prefecture of Tokyo. It would be the first Japanese homeland soil to be captured by the Americans, and it was a matter of honor for the Japanese to prevent its capture.[6]
The island is dominated by Mount Suribachi, a 546-foot (166 m) dormant volcanic cone at the southern tip of the island. Tactically, the top of Suribachi was one of the most important locations on the island. From that vantage point, the Japanese defenders were able to spot artillery accurately onto the Americans—particularly the landing beaches. The Japanese fought most of the battle from underground bunkers and pillboxes. It was common for Marines to disable a pillbox using grenades or flamethrowers, only to come under renewed fire from it a few minutes later, after replacement Japanese infantry arrived into the pillbox through a tunnel. The American effort concentrated on isolating and capturing Suribachi first, a goal that was achieved on February 23, four days after the battle began. Despite capturing Suribachi, the battle continued to rage for many days, and the island would not be declared "secure" until 31 days later, on March 26, 1945.[7]
Two flag-raisings
[edit]There were two American flags raised on top of Mount Suribachi, on February 23, 1945. The photograph Rosenthal took was actually of the second flag-raising, in which a larger replacement flag was raised by different Marines than those who raised the first flag.[8]
Raising the first flag
[edit]A U.S. flag was first raised atop Mount Suribachi soon after the mountaintop was captured at around 10:30 a.m. on February 23, 1945.[9]
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Left to right: 1st Lt. Harold Schrier[10] (kneeling behind radioman's legs), Pfc. Raymond Jacobs (radioman reassigned from F Company), Sgt. Henry "Hank" Hansen wearing cap, holding flagstaff with left hand), Platoon Sgt. Ernest "Boots" Thomas (seated), Pvt. Phil Ward (holding lower flagstaff with his right hand), PhM2c. John Bradley, USN (holding flagstaff with both hands, his right hand above Ward's right hand and his left hand below.), Pfc. James Michels (holding M1 Carbine), and Cpl. Charles W. Lindberg (standing above Michels).
Lieutenant Colonel Chandler W. Johnson, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division, ordered Marine Captain Dave Severance, commander of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, to send a platoon to seize and occupy the crest of Mount Suribachi.[11] First Lieutenant Harold G. Schrier, executive officer of Easy Company, who had replaced the wounded Third Platoon commander, John Keith Wells,[12] volunteered to lead a 40-man combat patrol up the mountain. Lieutenant Colonel Johnson (or 1st Lieutenant George G. Wells, the battalion adjutant, whose job it was to carry the flag) had taken the 54-by-28-inch (137 cm × 71 cm) flag from the battalion's transport ship, USS Missoula, and handed the flag to Schrier.[13][14] Johnson said to Schrier, "If you get to the top, put it up." Schrier assembled the patrol at 8 a.m. to begin the climb up the mountain.
Despite the large numbers of Japanese troops in the vicinity, Schrier's patrol made it to the rim of the crater at about 10:15 a.m., having come under little or no enemy fire, as the Japanese were being bombarded at the time.[15] The flag was attached by Schrier and two Marines to a Japanese iron water pipe found on top, and the flagstaff was raised and planted by Schrier, assisted by Platoon Sergeant Ernest Thomas and Sergeant Oliver Hansen (the platoon guide) at about 10:30 a.m.[10] (On February 25, during a CBS press interview aboard the flagship USS Eldorado about the flag-raising, Thomas stated that he, Schrier, and Hansen had actually raised the flag.)[16] The raising of the national colors immediately caused a loud cheering reaction from the Marines, sailors, and coast guardsmen on the beach below and from the men on the ships near the beach. The loud noise made by the servicemen and blasts of the ship horns alerted the Japanese, who up to this point had stayed in their cave bunkers. Schrier and his men near the flagstaff then came under fire from Japanese troops, but the Marines quickly eliminated the threat.[17] Schrier was later awarded the Navy Cross for volunteering to take the patrol up Mount Suribachi and raising the American flag, and a Silver Star Medal for a heroic action in March while in command of D Company, 2/28 Marines on Iwo Jima.
Photographs of the first flag flown on Mount Suribachi were taken by Staff Sergeant Louis R. Lowery of Leatherneck magazine, who accompanied the patrol up the mountain, and other photographers afterwards.[18][19] Others involved with the first flag-raising include Corporal Charles W. Lindberg (who also helped raise the flag),[20][page needed][better source needed] Privates First Class James Michels, Harold Schultz, Raymond Jacobs (F Company radioman), Private Phil Ward, and Navy corpsman John Bradley.[21] This flag was too small, however, to be easily seen from the northern side of Mount Suribachi, where heavy fighting would go on for several more days.
The Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, had decided the previous night that he wanted to go ashore and witness the final stage of the fight for the mountain. Now, under a stern commitment to take orders from General Holland "Howlin' Mad" Smith, the secretary was churning ashore in the company of the blunt, earthy general. Their boat touched the beach just after the flag went up, and the mood among the high command turned jubilant. Gazing upward, at the red, white, and blue speck, Forrestal remarked to Smith: "Holland, the raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years".[22][23]
Forrestal was so taken with fervor of the moment that he decided he wanted the Second Battalion's flag flying on Mt. Suribachi as a souvenir. The news of this wish did not sit well with 2nd Battalion Commander Chandler Johnson, whose temperament was every bit as fiery as Howlin Mad's. "To hell with that!" the colonel spat when the message reached him. The flag belonged to the battalion, as far as Johnson was concerned. He decided to secure it as soon as possible, and dispatched his assistant operations officer, Lieutenant Ted Tuttle, to the beach to obtain a replacement flag. As an afterthought, Johnson called after Tuttle: "And make it a bigger one."[24]
— James Bradley, Flags of Our Fathers
Raising the second flag
[edit]The photograph taken by Rosenthal was the second flag-raising on top of Mount Suribachi, on February 23, 1945.[25]
On orders from Colonel Chandler Johnson—passed on by Easy Company's commander, Captain Dave Severance—Sergeant Michael Strank, one of Second Platoon's squad leaders, was to take three members of his rifle squad (Corporal Harlon H. Block and Privates First Class Franklin R. Sousley and Ira H. Hayes) and climb up Mount Suribachi to raise a replacement flag on top; the three took supplies or laid telephone wire on the way to the top. Severance also dispatched Private First Class Rene A. Gagnon, the battalion runner (messenger) for Easy Company, to the command post for fresh SCR-300 walkie-talkie batteries to be taken to the top.[26]
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Albert Theodore Tuttle[24] under Johnson's orders, had found a large (96-by-56–inch) flag in nearby Tank Landing Ship USS LST-779. He made his way back to the command post and gave it to Johnson. Johnson, in turn, gave it to Rene Gagnon, with orders to take it up to Schrier on Mount Suribachi and raise it.[27] The official Marine Corps history of the event is that Tuttle received the flag from Navy Ensign Alan Wood of USS LST-779, who in turn had received the flag from a supply depot in Pearl Harbor.[28][29][30] Severance had confirmed that the second larger flag was in fact provided by Alan Wood even though Wood could not recognize any of the pictures of the second flag's raisers as Gagnon.[31] The flag was sewn by Mabel Sauvageau, a worker at the "flag loft" of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard.[32]
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First Lieutenant George Greeley Wells, who had been the Second Battalion, 28th Marines adjutant officially in charge of the two American flags flown on Mount Suribachi, stated in The New York Times in 1991 that Lieutenant Colonel Johnson ordered Wells to get the second flag, and that Wells sent Rene Gagnon, his battalion runner, to the ships on shore for the flag. Wells said that Gagnon returned with a flag and gave it to him, and that Gagnon took this flag up Mt. Suribachi with a message for Schrier to raise it and send the other flag down with Gagnon. Wells stated that he received the first flag back from Gagnon and secured it at the Marine headquarters command post. Wells also stated that he had handed the first flag to Lieutenant Schrier to take up Mount Suribachi.[13]
The Coast Guard Historian's Office recognizes the claims made by former U.S. Coast Guardsman Quartermaster Robert Resnick, who served aboard the USS Duval County at Iwo Jima. "Before he died in November 2004, Resnick said Gagnon came aboard LST-758[33] the morning of February 23 looking for a flag.[34] Resnick said he grabbed a flag from a bunting box and asked permission from his ship's commanding officer Lt. Felix Molenda to donate it.[35] Resnick kept quiet about his participation until 2001."[36][37]
Rosenthal's photograph
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#1, Cpl. Harlon Block (KIA)
#2, Pfc. Harold Keller
#3, Pfc. Franklin Sousley (KIA)
#4, Sgt. Michael Strank (KIA)
#5, Pfc. Harold Schultz
#6, Pfc. Ira Hayes
Gagnon, Strank, and Strank's three Marines reached the top of the mountain around noon without being fired upon. Rosenthal, along with Marine photographers Sergeant Bill Genaust (who was killed in action after the flag-raising) and Private First Class Bob Campbell[38] were climbing Suribachi at this time. On the way up, the trio met Lowery, who had photographed the first flag-raising, coming down. They considered turning around, but Lowery told them that the summit was an excellent vantage point from which to take photographs.[39] The three photographers reached the summit as the Marines were attaching the flag to an old Japanese water pipe.
Rosenthal put his Speed Graphic camera on the ground (set to 1/400 sec shutter speed, with the f-stop between 8 and 11 and Agfa film[40][41]) so he could pile rocks to stand on for a better vantage point. In doing so, he nearly missed the shot. The Marines began raising the flag. Realizing he was about to miss the action, Rosenthal quickly swung his camera up and snapped the photograph without using the viewfinder.[42] Ten years after the flag-raising, Rosenthal wrote:
Out of the corner of my eye, I had seen the men start the flag up. I swung my camera and shot the scene. That is how the picture was taken, and when you take a picture like that, you don't come away saying you got a great shot. You don't know.[41]
Sergeant Genaust, who was standing almost shoulder-to-shoulder with Rosenthal about three feet away,[41] was shooting motion-picture film during the second flag-raising. His film captures the second event at an almost-identical angle to Rosenthal's shot. Of the six flag-raisers in the picture—Ira Hayes, Harold Schultz (identified in June 2016), Michael Strank, Franklin Sousley, Harold Keller (identified in 2019), and Harlon Block—only Hayes, Keller (Marine corporal Rene Gagnon was incorrectly identified in the Rosenthal flag-raising photo), and Schultz (Navy corpsman John Bradley was incorrectly identified) survived the battle.[1] Strank and Block were killed on March 1, six days after the flag-raising, Strank by a shell, possibly fired from an offshore American destroyer and Block a few hours later by a mortar round.[43] Sousley was shot and killed by a Japanese sniper on March 21, a few days before the island was declared secure.[44]
Publication and staging confusion
[edit]Following the flag-raising, Rosenthal sent his film to Guam to be developed and printed.[45] George Tjaden of Hendricks, Minnesota, was likely the technician who printed it.[46] Upon seeing it, Associated Press (AP) photograph editor John Bodkin exclaimed "Here's one for all time!" and immediately transmitted the image to the AP headquarters in New York City at 7:00 am, Eastern War Time.[47] The photograph was quickly picked up off the wire by hundreds of newspapers. It "was distributed by Associated Press within seventeen and one-half hours after Rosenthal shot it—an astonishingly fast turnaround time in those days."[48]
However, the photograph was not without controversy. Following the second flag-raising, Rosenthal had the Marines of Easy Company pose for a group shot, the "gung-ho" shot.[49] A few days after the photograph was taken, Rosenthal—back on Guam—was asked if he had posed the photograph. Thinking the questioner was referring to the 'gung-ho' photograph, he replied "Sure." After that, Robert Sherrod, a Time-Life correspondent, told his editors in New York that Rosenthal had staged the flag-raising photograph. Time's radio show, Time Views the News, broadcast a report, stating that "Rosenthal climbed Suribachi after the flag had already been planted. ... Like most photographers [he] could not resist reposing his characters in historic fashion."[50] As a result of this report, Rosenthal was repeatedly accused of staging the photograph or covering up the first flag-raising. One New York Times book reviewer even went so far as to suggest revoking his Pulitzer Prize.[50] In the following decades, Rosenthal repeatedly and vociferously denied claims that the flag-raising was staged. "I don't think it is in me to do much more of this sort of thing ... I don't know how to get across to anybody what 50 years of constant repetition means," he said in 1995.[50] In spite of movie camera film shot by Sergeant Bill Genaust simultaneously with Rosenthal snapping his still camera, showing the live action, unstaged, flag raising, the controversy continued.
Incorrect identifications
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt, upon seeing Rosenthal's flag-raising photograph, saw its potential to use for the upcoming Seventh War Loan Drive to help fund the war effort. He then ordered the flag-raisers to be identified and sent to Washington, D.C. after the fighting on the island ended (March 26, 1945).[51]
Rosenthal did not take the names of those in the photograph. On April 7, Rene Gagnon was the first of the second "flag-raisers" to arrive in Washington, D.C. Using an enlargement of the photograph that did not show the faces of the flag-raisers, he named himself, Henry Hansen, Franklin Sousley, John Bradley and Michael Strank, as being in the photograph. He initially refused to name Ira Hayes, as Hayes did not want the publicity and threatened him with physical harm.[52] However, upon being summoned to Marine headquarters and told that refusal to name the last flag-raiser was a serious crime, he identified the sixth flag-raiser as Hayes.
President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. On April 19, Bradley (then on crutches) and Hayes arrived in Washington, D.C. On April 20, the three surviving second flag-raisers, identified then as Gagnon, Bradley, and Hayes, met President Truman in the White House. On May 9, during a ceremony at the nation's capitol, the three men raised the original second flag to initiate the bond tour which began on May 11 in New York City. On May 24, Hayes was taken off the tour due to problems caused by drinking alcohol and ordered back to his company and regiment which had returned to Hawaii. Gagnon and Bradley completed the tour which ended on July 4 in Washington, D.C. The bond drive was a success, raising $26.3 billion, twice the tour's goal.[53]
Harlon Block and Henry Hansen
[edit]Gagnon misidentified Corporal Harlon Block as Sergeant Henry O. "Hank" Hansen in Rosenthal's photo (both were killed in action on March 1). Initially, Bradley concurred with all of Gagnon's identifications. On April 8, 1945, the Marine Corps released the identification of five of the six flag raisers, including Hansen rather than Block (Sousley's identity was temporarily withheld pending notification of his family of his death during the battle). Block's mother, Belle Block, refused to accept the official identification, noting that she had "changed so many diapers on that boy's butt, I know it's my boy."[54] When Hayes was interviewed about the identities of the flag raisers and shown a photo of the flag raising by a Marine public relations officer on April 19, he told the officer that it was definitely Harlon Block and not Hansen at the base of the flagpole. The lieutenant colonel then told Hayes that the identifications had already been officially released, and ordered Hayes to keep silent about it[55] (during the investigation, the colonel denied Hayes told him about Block). Block, Sousley, and Hayes were close friends in the same squad of Second Platoon, E Company, while Hansen, who helped raise the first flag, was a member of Third Platoon, E Company.
In 1946, Hayes hitchhiked to Texas and informed Block's parents that their son had, in fact, been one of the six flag raisers.[56] Block's mother, Belle, immediately sent the letter that Hayes had given her to her congressional representative Milton West. West, in turn, forwarded the letter to Marine Corps Commandant Alexander Vandegrift, who ordered an investigation. John Bradley (formerly in Third Platoon with Hansen), upon being shown the evidence (Hansen, a former Paramarine, wore his large parachutist boots in an exposed manner on Iwo Jima), agreed that it was probably Block and not Hansen.[57] In January 1947, the Marine Corps officially announced it was Block in the photograph and not Hansen at the base of the flagpole. Hayes also was named as being in the far left position of the flag raisers replacing the position Sousley was determined to have had up until then; Sousley was now in back of and to the right of Strank (in 2016, Harold Schultz was named in this position and Sousley was named in the position where Bradley was named).
Ira remembered what Rene Gagnon and John Bradley could not have remembered, because they did not join the little cluster until the last moment: that it was Harlon [Block], Mike [Strank], Franklin [Sousley] and [Hayes] who had ascended Suribachi midmorning to lay telephone wire; it was Rene [Gagnon] who had come along with the replacement flag. Hansen had not been part of this action.[58]
Harold H. Schultz and John Bradley
[edit]On June 23, 2016, the Marine Corps publicly announced that Marine Corporal (then Private First Class) Harold Schultz was one of the flag-raisers and Navy corpsman John Bradley was not one of the flag-raisers in Rosenthal's second flag-raising photograph. Harold Schultz was identified as being in Franklin Sousley's position to the right and in front of Ira Hayes, and Sousley was identified as being in Bradley's position to the right and behind Rene Gagnon (identified as Harold Keller in 2019) behind Harlon Block at the base of the flagpole.[1] Bradley and Schultz had been present when both flags were actually raised, while Sousley was only on Mount Suribachi when he helped raise the second flag. Schultz was also part of the group of Marines and corpsmen who posed for Rosenthal's second "gung ho" photo.
Bradley, who died in 1994, seldom did an interview about the famous second flag-raising, occasionally deflecting questions by claiming he had forgotten.[59] He changed his story numerous times, saying that he raised or pitched in to raise the flag, and also that he was on, and not on, Mount Suribachi when the first flag was raised.[60] Within his family, it was considered a taboo subject, and when they received calls or invitations to speak on certain holidays, they were told to say he was away fishing at his cottage. At the time of Bradley's death, his son James said that he knew almost nothing about his father's wartime experiences.[54] James Bradley spent four years interviewing and researching the topic and published a nonfiction book entitled Flags of Our Fathers (2000) about the flag-raising and its participants.[61] The book, which was a bestseller, was later adapted into a 2006 film of the same name, directed by Clint Eastwood.
After being honorably discharged, Schultz moved to California and made his career with the United States Postal Service. He died in 1995.
The possibility that any flag-raiser had been misidentified was publicly raised for the first time in November 2014 by Eric Krelle, an amateur historian and collector of World War II-era Marine Corps memorabilia, and an Irish citizen and amateur historian named Stephen Foley.[62] Studying other photographs taken that day and video footage, Krelle and Foley argued that Franklin Sousley was in the fourth position (left to right) instead of Bradley and Harold Schultz of Los Angeles (originally from Detroit) was in the second position, previously identified as Sousley.[62] Initially, Marine Corps historians and officials did not accept those findings, but began their own investigation.[63] On June 23, 2016, they confirmed Krelle's and Foley's findings, stating that Schultz was in Sousley's place, Sousley was standing next to Block, and that Bradley was not in the photo at all.[64][65] James Bradley has also changed his mind, stating that he no longer believes his father is depicted in the famous photograph.[66][67][68]
Harold Keller and Rene Gagnon
[edit]On October 16, 2019, the Marine Corps announced that Marine Corporal Harold Keller was the flag-raiser previously identified as Rene Gagnon in Rosenthal's photograph. Stephen Foley, filmmaker Dustin Spence, and Brent Westemeyer were key to this revised identification. Photos and video footage showed that the man thought to have been Gagnon had a wedding ring, which matched Keller, who had married in 1944 (Gagnon was not married at the time). The man also did not have a facial mole, as Gagnon did. Finally, a photo which captured the lowering of the first flag verified what Gagnon had looked like that day, which did not match the second man in the Rosenthal photo.[69] After the battle, Keller returned to his hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa, where he died in 1979.[70]
Legacy
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Rosenthal's photograph was used as the basis for C. C. Beall's poster Now... All Together for the Seventh War Loan Drive (14 May - 30 June 1945).[71]
Rosenthal's photograph won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Photography, the only photograph to win the prize in the same year it was taken.[72]
News pros were not the only ones greatly impressed by the photo. Navy Captain T.B. Clark was on duty at Patuxent Air Station in Maryland that Saturday when it came humming off the wire in 1945. He studied it for a minute, and then thrust it under the gaze of Navy Petty Officer Felix de Weldon. De Weldon was an Austrian immigrant schooled in European painting and sculpture. De Weldon could not take his eyes off the photo. In its classic triangular lines he recognized similarities with the ancient statues he had studied. He reflexively reached for some sculptor's clay and tools. With the photograph before him he labored through the night. Within 72 hours of the photo's release, he had replicated the six boys pushing a pole, raising a flag.[47][73]
Upon seeing the finished model, the Marine Corps commandant had de Weldon assigned to the Marine Corps[74] until de Weldon was discharged from the Navy after the war was over.
Starting in 1951, de Weldon was commissioned to design a memorial to the Marine Corps. It took de Weldon and hundreds of his assistants three years to finish it. Hayes, Gagnon, and Bradley posed for de Weldon, who used their faces as a model. The three Marine flag raisers who did not survive the battle were sculpted from photographs.[75]
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The flag-raising Rosenthal (and Genaust) photographed was the replacement flag/flagstaff for the first flag/flagstaff that was raised on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945. There was some resentment from Marines of the original 40-man patrol that went up Mount Suribachi, including those involved with the first flag-raising, that they did not receive their deserved recognition. These included Staff Sgt. Lou Lowery, who took the first photos of the first flag flying over Mt. Suribachi; Charles W. Lindberg, who helped tie the first American flag to the first flagpole on Mount Suribachi (and who was, until his death in June 2007, one of the last living persons depicted in either flag-flying scene),[76] who complained for several years that he helped to raise the flag and "was called a liar and everything else. It was terrible" (because of all the recognition and publicity directed to the replacement flag-raisers and that flag-raising);[77] and Raymond Jacobs, photographed with the patrol commander around the base of the first flag flying over Mt. Suribachi, who complained until he died in 2008 that he was still not recognized by the Marine Corps by name as being the radioman in the photo.
The original Rosenthal photograph is in the possession of Roy H. Williams, who bought it from the estate of John Faber, the official historian for the National Press Photographers Association, who had received it from Rosenthal.[78] Both flags (from the first and second flag-raisings) are located in the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia.[79]
Ira Hayes, following the war, was plagued with depression brought on by survivor guilt and became an alcoholic. His tragic life, and death in 1955 at the age of 32, were memorialized in the 1961 motion picture The Outsider, starring Tony Curtis as Hayes, and the folk song "The Ballad of Ira Hayes", written by Peter LaFarge and recorded by Johnny Cash in 1964.[80] Bob Dylan later covered the song, as did Kinky Friedman.[81] According to the song, after the war:
Then Ira started drinkin' hard
Jail was often his home
They'd let him raise the flag and lower it
Like you'd throw a dog a bone!
He died drunk early one mornin'
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes.
Rene Gagnon, his wife, and his son visited Tokyo and Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima during the 20th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima in 1965.[82] After the war, he worked at Delta Air Lines as a ticket agent, opened his own travel agency, and was a maintenance director of an apartment complex in Manchester, New Hampshire. He died while at work in 1979, age 54.[83][page needed][84]
In other media
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Rosenthal's photograph has been reproduced in a number of other formats. It appeared on 3.5 million posters for the seventh war bond drive.[50] It has also been reproduced with many unconventional media such as Lego bricks, butter, ice, Etch A Sketch and corn mazes.[85]
The Iwo Jima flag-raising has been depicted in other films, including 1949's Sands of Iwo Jima (in which the three surviving flag raisers make a cameo appearance at the end of the film) and 1961's The Outsider, a biography of Ira Hayes starring Tony Curtis.[86]
In July 1945, the United States Postal Service released a postage stamp bearing the image.[87] The U.S. issued another stamp in 1995 showing the flag-raising as part of its 10-stamp series marking the 50th anniversary of World War II.[87] In 2005, the United States Mint released a commemorative silver dollar bearing the image.
A similar photograph was taken by Thomas E. Franklin of the Bergen Record in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Officially known as Ground Zero Spirit, the photograph is perhaps better known as Raising the Flag at Ground Zero, and shows three firefighters raising a U.S. flag in the ruins of the World Trade Center shortly after 5 pm.[88] Painter Jamie Wyeth also painted a related image entitled September 11th based on this scene. It illustrates rescue workers raising a flag at Ground Zero. Other iconic photographs frequently compared include V-J Day in Times Square, Into the Jaws of Death, Raising a Flag over the Reichstag, and the Raising of the Ink Flag.[89]
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The highly recognizable image is one of the most parodied photographs in history.[85] Anti-war activists in the 1960s altered the flag to bear a peace symbol, as well as several anti-establishment artworks.[90] Edward Kienholz's Portable War Memorial in 1968 depicted faceless Marines raising the flag on an outdoor picnic table in a typical American consumerist environment of the 1960s.[91][92] It was parodied again during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 to depict the flag being planted into Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's behind.[90] In the early 2000s, to represent gay pride, photographer Ed Freeman shot a photograph[93] for the cover of an issue of Frontiers magazine, reenacting the scene with a rainbow flag instead of an American flag.[94] Time magazine came under fire in 2008 after altering the image for use on its cover, replacing the American flag with a tree for an issue focused on global warming.[90] The British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association likewise came under criticism in 2010 for a poster depicting employees raising a flag marked "BASSA" at the edge of a runway.[90]
Among the smaller scale replicas of the Marine Corps War Memorial based on the flag raising is one also sculpted by Felix de Weldon at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island on the Peatross Parade Deck. For the finale of The Crucible, the Marines' 54-hour final training test, Marine recruits at Parris Island hike 9 miles to the statue as the sun rises and the flag is raised. They then are addressed on the flag raising and its meaning and are then awarded their Eagle, Globe and Anchor emblems by their drill instructors signifying them as full-fledged Marines.[95]
In 2021 the Taliban posted a series of photos after the announcement that the Americans were withdrawing from Afghanistan. One of the photos posted shows Taliban soldiers raising a flag which has a notable similarity to Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, although it is uncertain if this was their intent or merely a coincidental similarity.[96]
See also
[edit]- The Ink Flag
- Shadow of Suribachi: Raising the Flags on Iwo Jima
- Raising a Flag over the Reichstag
- Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn
- Raising the Flag at Ground Zero
- History of the United States Marine Corps
- C. C. Beall
- List of photographs considered the most important
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d USMC Statement on Marine Corps Flag Raisers, Office of U.S. Marine Corps Communication, 23 June 2016
- ^ "Warrior in iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising photo was misidentified, Marines Corps acknowledges". Nbcnews.com. October 16, 2019. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
- ^ "Arlington Ridge Park, George Washington Memorial Parkway". National Park Service. July 3, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
- ^ Weinberg 1994, pp. 866–868.
- ^ Leckie 1967, p. 3.
- ^ "Charles Lindberg, 86; Marine helped raise first U.S. flag over Iwo Jima". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. June 26, 2007. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
- ^ Willie 2010, p. 97.
- ^ Robertson, Neimeyer & Nash 2019, pp. xix–xxi.
- ^ Robertson, Neimeyer & Nash 2019, p. 48.
- ^ a b David Knopf (January 2, 2012). "Camden-Fleming man an unsung hero at Iwo Jima". Richmond News. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
- ^ Bradley 2006, p. 306.
- ^ Lance Hernandez (February 14, 2016). "World War II 'Hero of Iwo Jima,' John Keith Wells, dies in Arvada". The Denver Channel. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
- ^ a b G. Greeley Wells (October 17, 1991). "The Man Who Carried the Flag at Iwo Jima". The New York Times. p. A26.
- ^ Lucas, Dean (July 9, 2007). "Famous Pictures Magazine – Raising The Flag On Iwo Jima". Famous Pictures Magazine. Retrieved May 23, 2013.
- ^ Bradley, John H. (January 16, 2008). "Oral History – Iwo Jima Flag Raising: Recollections of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima by Pharmacist Mate Second Class John H. Bradley, USN, with the 5th Marine Division". Navy Department Library – Oral Histories (Interview). Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
- ^ Rural Florida Living. CBS Radio interview by Dan Pryor with flag raiser Ernest "Boots" Thomas on February 25, 1945 aboard the USS Eldorado: "Three of us actually raised the flag".
- ^ Robertson, Neimeyer & Nash 2019, p. 15.
- ^ Alexander 1994, sec. 4.
- ^ Alexander 1994, cover.
- ^ Brown 2019.
- ^ Bradley 2006, p. 205.
- ^ Warren 2007, p. 70.
- ^ Clancy 1996, p. 670.
- ^ a b Bradley 2006, p. 207.
- ^ Robertson, Neimeyer & Nash 2019, p. xix.
- ^ Buell 2006, pp. 104, 221.
- ^ Bradley 2006, p. 210.
- ^ "Alan Wood, US veteran who provided flag for Iwo Jima picture, dies aged 90". The Guardian. Associated Press. April 28, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
- ^ Chawkins, Steve (April 25, 2013). "Alan Wood dies at 90; provided Iwo Jima flag in World War II". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
- ^ Scott, David Clark (April 27, 2013). "Alan Wood dies, leaves legacy of Iwo Jima flag". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
- ^ Battle of Iwo Jima: Alan Wood and the Famous Flag on Mount Suribachi HistoryNet, June 12, 2006
- ^ Patterson, Rod (June 13, 1973). "Fame Eludes Creator Of Iwo Jima banner". The Oregonian.
- ^ "LST-758". navsource.org.
- ^ "Coast Guard Linked to Iwo Jima". jacksjoint.com.
- ^ "USS LST-758" (PDF). uscg.mil.
- ^ USCG Veteran Provided Stars and Stripes for U.S. Marines Silverstein, Judy L.; U.S. Coast Guard.
- ^ Kime, Patricia (December 12, 2005). "Iwo Jima flag legend puts services at odds". armytimes.com. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
- ^ Farhi, Paul (February 22, 2013). "The Iwo Jima photo and the man who helped save it". The Washington Post, p. c1 [1]
- ^ Fiery, Glenn (February 2004). "Iwo Jima flag raising A Brief History". Marine Corps League. Archived from the original on April 16, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ Rubin, Cyma; Newton, Eric, eds. (2011). The Pulitzer Prize Photographs. Newseum Inc. ISBN 978-0-9799521-3-5.
- ^ a b c Rosenthal, Joe; Heinz, W.C. (February 18, 1955). "The Picture that will Live Forever". Collier's Magazine. Crowell-Collier Publishing Company. Archived from the original on March 23, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
{{cite magazine}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Bradley 2006, pp. 209–211.
- ^ Robertson, Neimeyer & Nash 2019, p. 18.
- ^ Robertson, Neimeyer & Nash 2019, p. 23.
- ^ "This Is America – Six Men, a World War, a Pacific Island and an Image for All Time". Manythings.org. May 30, 2010. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
- ^ Hemmingsen, Steve (November 11, 2005). "Hemmingsen: A Developing Story". Keloland Television. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
- ^ a b Bradley 2006, p. 220.
- ^ "Center for American History Spring 2005 Newsletter" (PDF). Retrieved May 29, 2012.
- ^ Upson, Cyd (May 15, 2015). "Fact or Fiction: Was the Photo of the Iwo Jima Flag-Raising Staged?". foxnews.com. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
- ^ a b c d Landsberg, Mitchell. "Fifty Years Later, Iwo Jima Photographer Fights His Own Battle". Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 12, 2004. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ Robertson, Neimeyer & Nash 2019, p. xviii.
- ^ Bradley 2006, p. 268.
- ^ Bradley 2006, p. 294.
- ^ a b Bradley, James J. (October 3, 2001). Leadership and Doing the Impossible (Speech). Zeien Lecture Series. Webb Institute. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
- ^ Bradley 2006, p. 275.
- ^ Bradley 2006, p. 312.
- ^ Bradley 2006, p. 313.
- ^ Bradley 2006, p. 274.
- ^ Bradley 2006, p. 343.
- ^ "John Bradley's Account of the Iwo Flag Raising". July 1, 2016.
- ^ Bradley 2006, p. 5.
- ^ a b Hansen, Matthew (November 23, 2014). "New mystery arises from iconic Iwo Jima image". Omaha World-News. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
- ^ Times, Marine Corps (November 26, 2014). "marine-corps-history-disputed". Marine Corps Times.
- ^ McFeteridge, Scott (May 2, 2016). "Marines investigating claim about men in Iwo Jima photo". Tampa Bay Times. Associated Press. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
- ^ Schmidt, Michael S. (June 23, 2016). "Man in Iwo Jima Flag Photo Was Misidentified, Marine Corps Says". The New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
- ^ Schmidt, Michael S. (May 3, 2016). "'Flags of Our Fathers' Author Now Doubts His Father Was in Iwo Jima Photo". The New York Times. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
- ^ Mcfetridge, Scott (May 3, 2016). "Detroit Marine could be in iconic Iwo Jima photo". The Detroit News, Associated Press. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
- ^ Hansen, Matthew (May 6, 2016). "Hansen: After studying OWH column, 'Flags of Our Fathers' author James Bradley says father isn't in iconic Iwo Jima photo". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
- ^ "Warrior in iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising photo was misidentified, Marine Corps acknowledges". NBC News. October 16, 2019. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
- ^ "Meet the Marine the world just learned helped raise the flag at Iwo Jima in World War II". USA Today. 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
- ^ Robertson, Neimeyer & Nash 2019, pp. 63–65.
- ^ Fischer, Heinz-D.; Fischer, Erika J. (2003). Complete historical handbook of the Pulitzer Prize system, 1917–2000 decision-making processes in all award categories based on unpublished sources. München: K.G. Saur. pp. 200–201. ISBN 9783110939125.
- ^
The Washington Post (June 9, 2003). "Felix De Weldon, 96, Iwo Jima Memorial Sculptor". Sun Sentinel. South Florida. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
The image mesmerized Mr. de Weldon, who began sculpting a model the day the photo was released...a model that he completed in 72 hours.
- ^
Martin, Douglas (June 15, 2003). "Felix de Weldon Is Dead at 96; Sculptured Memorial to Marines". New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
When his finished work was wheeled into the office of the Marine Corps commandant, the man was so impressed that he transferred Mr. de Weldon into the Marine Corps.
- ^ "USMC War Memorial". National Park Service. Archived from the original on April 20, 1999. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ "The Last Flag Raiser". Mediatechnics.com. Archived from the original on March 8, 2005. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ Wurzer, Cathy; Siple, Julie (February 18, 2005). "Vets still fight Iwo Jima flag flap". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ Williams, Roy H. (2003). "An Island in WWII". invisibleheroes.com. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
- ^ "Collections of the National Museum of the Marine Corps". Usmcmuseum.org. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ Turner, Steve (2004). The Man Called CASH: The Life, Love and Faith of an American Legend. Thomas Nelson Inc. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-4185-7809-1.
- ^ Dunn, Tim (2008). The Bob Dylan Copyright Files 1962–2007. AuthorHouse. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-4389-1589-0.
- ^ Drake, Hal (February 21, 1965) Flag raiser's return To Iwo Jima: 'It all seems impossible' [2] Stars and Stripes
- ^ Buell 2006.
- ^ Duckler, Ray (Concord Monitor, May 25, 2014) Ray Duckler: Son of Marine in iconic photo pays tribute to his father "Ray Duckler: Son of Marine in iconic photo pays tribute to his father | Concord Monitor". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2015
- ^ Burrell, Robert S. (2006). The Ghosts of Iwo Jima. Texas A&M University Press. pp. 178, 246. ISBN 978-1-58544-483-0.
- ^ a b "Battle of Iwo Jima" (PDF). Veterans and the Military on Stamps. United States Postal Service. p. 20. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
- ^ "About the Photo". Ground Zero Spirit. North Jersey Media Group Foundation. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
- ^ Aderet, Ofer (September 29, 2012). "Former IDF General Israeli Icon Avraham Adan Dies at 86". Haaretz Newspaper in Israel. Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
- ^ a b c d Lamothe, Dan (March 15, 2010). "BASSA-ckward: British labor group alters iconic Marine image". Marine Corps Times. p. 6.
- ^ Willick, Damon (May 6, 1996). "Good morning, my name is Ed Kienholz". Contemporary Art Quarterly. Archived from the original on May 12, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ Upshaw, Reagan (1996). "Scavenger's Parade: the Edward Kienholz Retrospective Now on View in Los Angeles Reviews the Career of a Pioneer of American Postwar Assemblage". Art in America. Vol. 84, no. 10. pp. 98–107.
- ^ "Gay Pride High-Res Stock Photography". Getty Images. Archived from the original on March 10, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
- ^ "Iwo Jima Marines, gay pride and a photo adaptation that spawns fury". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
- ^ Recruit Training – Crucible Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island
- ^ "Taliban PR photo mimics America's iconic Iwo Jima image". The Independent. August 22, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
Bibliography
[edit]- Alexander, Joseph H. (1994). Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima. Marines in World War II Commemorative Series. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. OCLC 32194668.
- Bradley, James (2006) [2000]. Flags of Our Fathers. New York: Bantam. ISBN 978-0-553-38415-4.
- Brown, Rodney (2019). Iwo Jima Monuments: The Untold Story. War Museum. ISBN 978-1-7334294-3-6. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- Buell, Hal (2006). Uncommon Valor, Common Virtue: Iwo Jima and the Photograph that Captured America. Berkeley, California: Berkeley Publishing Group/Penguin Group. ISBN 978-0-425-20980-6.
- Clancy, Tom (1996). Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit. Penguin Group US. ISBN 978-1-4295-2009-6.
- Leckie, Robert (1967). The Battle of Iwo Jima. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0394904184.
- Robertson, Breanne; Neimeyer, Charles; Nash, Douglas (2019). Investigating Iwo: The Flag Raisings in Myth, Memory & Esprit de Corps (PDF). Marine Corps History Division. ISBN 978-1732003071.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Warren, James A. (2007). American Spartans: The U.S. Marines: A Combat History from Iwo Jima to Iraq. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-3297-2.
- Weinberg, Gerhard L. (1994). A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-55879-2.
- Willie, Clarence E. (2010). African American Voices from Iwo Jima: Personal Accounts of the Battle. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5694-9.
External links
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima: The most parodied photo in history?
- Captain Dave Severance talks about the Battle of Iwo Jima and raising the flag
- Chlosta, SSgt Matthew, U.S. Army (July 6, 2007). "JPAC investigation team returns from Iwo Jima (re: William Genaust)". Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC). Archived from the original on November 5, 2011.
{{cite web}}
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- 1945 photographs
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- Battle of Iwo Jima
- Black-and-white photographs
- Flags of the United States
- Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II
- Photography in Japan
- Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs
- Special events flags
- Non-fiction works about the United States Marine Corps
- United States Marine Corps in World War II
- United States Marine Corps lore and symbols
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- Flags in art