Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima: Difference between revisions

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(©Joe Rosenthal/Associated Press)

A photo colorized to show all six men - Ira Hayes (red), Franklin Sousley (violet), John Bradley (green), Harlon Block (yellow), Michael Strank (brown), Rene Gagnon (teal).

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is a famous photograph taken on 23 February 1945 by Joe Rosenthal, which depicts five US Marines and one US Navy corpsman raising the Flag of the United States atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

The famous picture actually captured the second flag-raising event of the day. The first flag raised by Marines was too small to be easily seen, however the raising was captured on film by Sergeant Louis R. Lowery.

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 order from 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'.

Forrestal was so taken with fervor of the moment that he decided he wanted the Suribachi flag as a souvenir. The news of this wish did not sit well with 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 scare up a replacement flag. As an afterthought, Johnson called after Tuttle 'And make it a bigger one'". (James Bradley, 'Flags of Our Fathers', p.207)

That order made its way down the ranks until the five marines of Company E (2nd Battalion, 28th Regiment, 5th Marine Division) got the order. Along with a Navy corpsman, they raised the U.S. flag using an old water pipe for a flagpost. Of the six men pictured (Michael Strank, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, John Bradley (the Navy corpsman), and Harlon Block) only three (Hayes, Gagnon, and Bradley) survived the battle.

The photo won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for best photo; the only photograph to win in the same year it was taken. In 1954, the image was memorialized as a large, bronze statue, the USMC War Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. The story of the five marines (and one sailor) is told by Bradley's son James in Flags of Our Fathers.

The photograph itself is currently in the possession of Roy H. Williams, who bought it from the estate of John Faber. Faber, the official historian for the National Press Photographers Association, had received it from Rosenthal. [1] The flag featured in the picture is now part of the collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

From 1994 until 2004, the NetBSD operating system used a cartoon inspired by this photograph as its logo. NetBSD's more abstract current logo retains the flag symbolism.

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 '''''Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima''''' is a famous photograph taken on [[23 February]] [[1945]] by [[Joe Rosenthal]], which depicts five [[United States Marine Corps|US Marines]] and one [[United States Navy|US Navy]] [[corpsman]] raising the [[Flag of the United States]] atop [[Mount Suribachi]] during the [[Battle of Iwo Jima]] in [[World War II]].
-The famous picture actually captured the second flag-raising event of the day. The first flag raised by Marines was too small to be easily seen, however the raising was captured on film by Sergeant Louis R. Lowery. [http://www.iwojima.com/raising/lflagi.gif]
+The famous picture actually captured the second flag-raising event of the day. The first flag raised by Marines was too small to be easily seen, however the raising was captured on film by Sergeant Louis R. Lowery.
-:''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 [[Holland Smith|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'.''
+:''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  from [[Holland Smith|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'.''
 :''Forrestal was so taken with fervor of the moment that he decided he wanted the Suribachi flag as a souvenir. The news of this wish did not sit well with 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 scare up a replacement flag. As an afterthought, Johnson called after Tuttle 'And make it a bigger one'".  ([[James Bradley (author)|James Bradley]], '[[Flags of Our Fathers]]', p.207)''
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 The photograph itself is currently in the possession of Roy H. Williams, who bought it from the estate of John Faber. Faber, the official historian for the [[National Press Photographers Association]], had received it from Rosenthal. [http://www.invisibleheroes.com/hero.asp?issue=108] The flag featured in the picture is now part of the collection at the [[Smithsonian Institution|Smithsonian]] [[National Museum of American History]].
+From 1994 until 2004, the [[NetBSD]] operating system used a cartoon inspired by this photograph as [http://www.netbsd.org/images/NetBSD-old.jpg its logo]. NetBSD's more abstract current logo retains the flag symbolism.
-==Staging==
-Rosenthal has repeatedly been accused of having staged the picture, due to a misunderstanding which occured shortly after the picture was taken.
-Following the first and second flag raisings, Rosenthal had the marines of E-company pose for a group shot. ([http://www.iwojima.com/raising/lflagj.gif Picture of Rosenthal taking the posed shot]; [http://www.iwojima.com/raising/l721flag.gif The posed picture taken by Rosenthal]).
-Rosenthal then set his film to the [[Marianas]] to be developed. The photo-developers, upon seeing the flag-raising photo, were greatly impressed by the photo and wrote Rosenthal to ask if he had staged it. Rosenthal mistakenly believed they were referring to the group shot, instead of the flag-raising shot, and replied that yes, it had been staged.
-For decades that followed, Rosenthal has repeatedly and vociferously refuted claims that the flag raising was staged. Video of the flag raising taken by Staff Sgt [[Bill Genaust]] (who was standing next to Rosenthal at the time of the flag raising and captured it on video) correlates exactly with Rosenthal's picture, thus proving Rosenthal's claim.
 ==See also==
-This photo has a similar theme to the famous [[:Image:Soviet_Reichstag.gif|Soviet flag over the Reichstag]] photo by [[Yevgeny Khaldei]] on April 30, 1945.
+This photo has a similar theme to the famous [[:Image:Soviet_Reichstag.gif|Soviet flag over the Reichstag]] photo by Yevgeny Khaldei on April 30, 1945.
 *[[List of photographs]]