Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima – Wikipedia, the free …

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is a historic photograph taken on February 23, 1945, by Joe Rosenthal. It depicts five United States Marines and a United States Navy corpsman raising a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi,[1] during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

The photograph was extremely popular, being reprinted in thousands of publications. Later, it became the only photograph to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its publication, and came to be regarded in the United States as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war, and quite possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time.[2] Three Marines depicted in the photograph, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, and Michael Strank, were killed in action over the next few days. The three surviving flag-raisers were Marines Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, and Navy Corpsman John Bradley. The latter three became celebrities after their identifications in the photograph.

The image was later used by Felix de Weldon to sculpt the Marine Corps War Memorial which was dedicated in 1954 to all Marines who died for their country past and present, and is located adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington, D.C. The original mold is located on the Marine Military Academy grounds, a private college preparatory academy located in Harlingen, Texas.

On February 19, 1945, the United States military forces invaded Iwo Jima as part of its island-hopping strategy to defeat Japan. Iwo Jima originally was not a target, but the relatively quick fall 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.

Iwo Jima is a volcanic island, shaped like a trapezoid. Marines on the island described it as "a large, gray pork chop".[4] The island was heavily fortified, and the invading United States Marines suffered high casualties. The island is dominated by Mount Suribachi, a 546-foot (166m) dormant volcanic cone situated on the southern tip of the island. 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.[5] Tactically, the top of Suribachi is 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 knock out one pillbox using grenades or a flamethrower, only to experience renewed shooting from it a few minutes later, after more Japanese infantry slipped into the pillbox using a tunnel. The American effort concentrated on isolating and capturing Suribachi first, a goal that was achieved on February 23, 1945, 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.[6]

A U.S. flag was first raised atop Mount Suribachi soon after the mountaintop was captured at around 10:20 on February 23, 1945.

Lieutenant Colonel Chandler Johnson, the battalion 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 capture the summit of the mountain.1Lt. Harold G. Schrier, executive officer of Easy Company who had replaced the Third Platoon commander who had been wounded, volunteered to lead a 40-man combat patrol up the mountain. Lt. Schrier assembled the patrol at 8 am to begin the climb up the mountain. Before the climb up, Lt. Col. Johnson (or 1st Lt. George G. Wells the battalion adjutant whose job it was to carry the flag and who had taken the 54-by-28-inch/140-by-71-centimeter flag from the battalion's transport ship the USSMissoula to Iwo Jima) handed Schrier a flag.[9][10] Johnson said to Schrier, "If you get to the top put it up".

Lt. Schrier successfully led the combat patrol to the top. The flag was attached to a pipe, and the flagstaff was raised by Lt. Schrier assisted by his platoon sergeant.[11] However, on February 25, during a press interview aboard the flagship USS Eldorado about the flag-raising, Platoon Sergeant Ernest Thomas stated that Lt. Schrier, himself, and Sgt. Henry Hansen (platoon guide) had actually raised the flag. Lt. Schrier who received the Navy Cross for volunteering to take the patrol up the mountain and raise the American flag, would later receive a Silver Star Medal while commanding Company D, 2/28 Marines on Iwo Jima.

The first photographs of the first flag flown on Mt. Suribachi were taken by SSgt. Louis R. Lowery, a photographer with Leatherneck magazine, who accompanied the patrol up the mountain.[12][13] Others present at this first flag-raising included Cpl. Charles W. Lindberg, Pfc. James Michels, and Pvt. Gene Marshall, the E Company, 3rd Platoon radioman sometimes disputed as Pfc. Raymond Jacobs. However, Pfc. Raymond Jacobs (F Company, Second Battalion, 28th Marines) has been identified as being the radioman present during the first flag raising. This flag was too small, however, to be easily seen from the nearby landing beaches.

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 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".[15][16]

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