U.S. FLAGS ON SURIBACHI

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2229

MARINES RAISE AMERICAN FLAGS ON MOUNT SURIBACHI

Iwo Jima (JFK+50) During the Battle of Iwo Jima 72 years ago today, February 23, 1945, United States Marines captured the crest of the island's highest peak, Mount Suribachi and two groups of Marines of the 3rd platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Division raised a pair of American flags at the top.  

The first flag raisers were photographed by Louis Lowery and a few hours later a second flag raising was captured on film by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal who won the Pulitzer Prize for his famous photograph which was to become the model for the US Marine Corps War Memorial.  The War Memorial, located near Rosslyn, Virginia, was dedicated in 1954. 

President John F. Kennedy issued a proclamation in 1961 which provides for the American Flag to fly from the memorial 24 hours a day.  The US Marine Corps War Memorial honors all Marines who have died in battle since 1775.

On the base of the memorial is a quote from Admiral Chester Nimitz who honored the American Marines on Iwo Jima...

"Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue"

The six flag raisers who are depicted in the memorial include...

Ira Hayes
Franklin Sousley
John Bradley
Harlon Block
Michael Strank 
Rene Gagnon.

United States Marine Corps Memorial

Photo by Aarian R. Rowan (2013)

www.defenseimagery.mil

FLAGS OF MOUNT SURIBACHI

US FLAGS PLANTED ON MT. SURIBACHI 70 YEARS AGO TODAY

Iwo Jima (JFK+50) During the Battle of Iwo Jima seventy years ago today, February 23, 1945, United States Marines captured the crest of the island's highest peak, Mount Suribachi.

Two groups of Marines, of the 3rd platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Division, raised a pair of American flags at the top.  

The first flag raisers were photographed by Louis Lowery and a few hours later a second flag raising was captured on film by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal.*

Rosenthal would win the Pulitzer Prize for his famous photograph which was to become the model for the US Marine Corps War Memorial.

The War Memorial, located near Rosslyn, Virginia, was dedicated in 1954. 
President John F. Kennedy issued a proclamation in 1961 which provides for the American Flag to fly from the memorial 24 hours a day.

The Marine Corps War Memorial honors all Marines who have died in battle since 1775.  On the base of the memorial is a quote from Admiral Chester Nimitz who honored the American Marines on Iwo Jima:

"Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue"

"Iwo Jima"

U.S. Postage Stamp

The six flag raisers who are depicted in the memorial include...

Ira Hayes
Franklin Sousley
John Bradley
Harlon Block
Michael Strank 
Rene Gagnon.

Block, Sousley and Strank were killed on Iwo shortly after the flag raising. 
The three survivors quickly became national heroes.

Joe Rosenthal

December 1990

Photo by Nancy Wong

(Own Work)

*Joe Rosenthal (1911-2006) was born in Washington, D.C. to Russian immigrants.  He attended the University of San Francisco and joined the Associated Press in 1943.  The following year he was assigned to the Pacific Theater where he made his iconic photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima.  In 1945, JR was the chief photographer and manager of Times World Wide Photos.

'IN THE AIR, ON LAND AND SEA'

70TH ANNIVERSARY OF USMC LANDINGS ON IWO JIMA

Iwo Jima (JFK+50) 70 years ago at 9 o'clock this morning, February 19, 1945, three divisions of the United States Marine Corps landed on the beach here on the Japanese-held island of Iwo Jima*.

The landing forces, representing the 3rd, 4th and 5th USMC Divisions, were met with an uncanny silence.  The Japanese had decided to wait until all U.S. forces were on the beach before responding.

The island was defended by 7 Japanese battalions comprised of 21,000 soldiers who were protected by a network of caves.

As Marines approached the first lines of hidden Japanese soldiers, they encountered heavy machine gun fire and suffered many casualties.  By evening, the Marines had lost 550 dead and 1800 wounded.  

One of the most remembered phases of the battle came only 4 days after the landing, February 23, 1945, when Mount Suribachi was captured and the United States Flag proudly displayed.  Photographer Joe Rosenthal won the Pulitzer Prize for his image which became the basis for the United States Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

The Battle of Iwo Jima lasted until March 26, 1945.  By that time 19,000 of the 21,000 Japanese defenders were dead.  Despite this fact, the battle was the only one fought by the USMC in the Pacific in which they suffered more casualties than the enemy.

*Iwo Jima, a.k.a. Sulfur Island, 8 square miles in size is located 750 miles from Tokyo, Japan.  The island was discovered in 1543 by Spanish explorer Bernardo de la Torre.

Its' highest point, Mount Suribachi, is 528 feet high.  The United States occupied the island from 1945 to 1968 at which time it was returned to Japan.

Marines on Iwo Jima
27th Regiment
USMC Image

"From the halls of Montezuma

To the shores of Tripoli
We fight our Nation's battles
In the air, on land  on sea."

Marine Corps Hymn

NAVY ENSIGN WHO PROVIDED IWO JIMA FLAG DIES

April 29, 2013

NAVY ENSIGN WHO PROVIDED IWO JIMA FLAG DIES

Sierra Madre, California (JFK+50) Alan Wood, the US Navy Ensign who provided the flag which was raised by Marines on Mount Suribachi during WWII, died last week at the age of 90.

     US Flag Flown on Mt. Suribachi
National Museum of the Marine Corps
    Photo by Mark Pellegrini (2006)

Mr. Wood, who served on LST 779 during the Iwo Jima campaign, lived here in Sierra Madre, California and is survived by son Steven and 3 grandchildren.

Ensign Wood was 22 years old when he, as a Naval communications officer, was approached by a Marine who needed "the biggest flag that he could find."

The Marines had successfully captured MOUNT SURIBACHI after 5 hard days of fighting and wanted to signal the capture of the critical position to US troops continuing the fight below.

Wood located a 37 square foot American flag he had found at the Pearl Harbor Navy Depot.

When 5 Marines raised that flag, AP photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped the image that has been referred to as perhaps the most reproduced photograph ever made.

The photograph won Rosenthal a Pulitzer Prize, turned the Marines who raised the flag into celebrities, and became a model for the Marine Corps War Memorial.*

                  USMC War Memorial
                     Arlington, Virginia
              Photo by Ketone 16 (2008)

Ensign Wood downplayed his contribution in a letter written later in 1945.  

He wrote...

"The fact that there were men among us who were able to face a situation like Iwo, where human life is so cheap, is something to make humble those of us who were so very fortunate not to be called upon to endure such hell."

After the war, Alan Wood was a technical artist and spokesman for the Jet Propulsion Library.  

*The USMC War Memorial is the work of Felix de Wel.  It was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on November 10, 1954.  JFK signed a proclamation in 1961 requiring the Flag of the United States to fly from the memorial 24 hours a day.

SOURCE

"WWII vet who provided flag on Iwo Jima has died," by the Associated Press, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, April 29, 2013.

Stars and Stripes on Mt. Suribachi
              U.S. Archives Image

                      You Tube Video