The Second,More Famous Flag-Raising On Iwo Jima

[thedrifter]

The Second,
More Famous Flag-Raising
On Iwo Jima



Shortly after the first flag-raising on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Lieutenant Colonel Chandler W. Johnson, the Battalion commander, told Second Lieutenant Albert T. Tuttle, Assistant Operations Officer, 2d Battalion, 28th Marines, to go down to one of the ships on the beach and get a large battle flag - "large enough that the men at the other end of the island can see it. It will lift their spirits also." Lieutenant Tuttle went on board LST 779, beached near the base of the volcano and obtained a larger set of colors. Ironically, the flag from LST 779 which would soon fly over the first captured Japanese territory had been salvaged from Pearl Harbor, probably from some decommissioned destroyer or destroyer escort.



This is the original photograph by Joe Rosenthal. It was later cropped to become the photo we all know.


When Tuttle returned to the command post with the larger flag. Lieutenant Colonel Johnson directed him to give the flag to Private First Class Rene A. Gagnon, the Colonel's runner from Company E. Gagnon was headed up the hill with replacement batteries that Lieutenant Schrier had requested for his radio. As Gagnon was carrying this second and larger (96 by 56 inches) flag up the slopes of Suribachi, Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal was just beginning his hard climb up the mountain. Sergeant Michael Strank, Corporal Harlon H. Block, Private First Class Franklin R. Sousley and Private First Class Ira H. Hayes also accompanied this set of colors up Suribachi's slopes with Gagnon.

When the men arrived at the top, Lieutenant Schrier decided that the new flag should be raised as the original one was lowered. Sergeant Strank, Corporal Block, Private First Class Hayes and Private First Class Sousley fastened the larger colors to a second pipe and then tried to set the makeshift staff in the rugged ground. Since the four men appeared to be having difficulty in getting the pipe firmly planted, two onlookers, Private First Class Gagnon and Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John H. Bradley came to their aid.



Easy Company take the flags up Mt. Suribachi.
Easy Company had been fighting 4 days. They had 40% casualties to date


All six were struggling to raise the flag when Rosenthal snapped a picture of the scene. According to Rosenthal, luck played an important part in the taking of his famous photograph. The Associated Press photographer arrived at the summit just as Lieutenant Schrier was preparing to take down the first flag. At first, Rosenthal hoped to photograph the lowering of the first flag together with the raising of the larger flag. When he discovered that he would not have time to line up both pictures, he decided to concentrate on the second flag raising. He backed off about 35 feet, only to discover that because of the sloping ground, he could not see what was happening. He piled up some loose stones, mounted them and focused on the band of Marines.

Just as Rosenthal was training his camera on the men, Lieutenant Schrier walked into his line of vision. Rosenthal later recalled that just as Schrier moved away, Sergeant Bill Genaust, the Marine motion picture photographer, "came across in front of me and over to my right...He said 'I'm not in your way, am I, Joe?' And I said, 'Oh, no." I turned from him and out of the corner of my eye I said, 'Hey Bill, there it goes!' By being polite to each other we damn near missed the shot. I swung my camera around and held it until I could guess that this was the peak of the action and shot."

Rosenthal took 18 photographs on Iwo Jima that eventful day. Among them was a shot posed by men of the 28th Marines around the flag. When queried a few days later by his wire service picture editor as to whether "the flag raising picture" was posed, Rosenthal, unaware of which picture had had the sensational reception in the United States, thought the editor meant the one which actually had been posed. Out of Rosenthal's affirmative reply to the editor grew the misconception that the flag raising picture was posed.

The testimony of Rosenthal himself and of eyewitnesses who survived the battle, however, attest that the flag raising photograph was in no way rigged. As Rosenthal put it, "Had I posed that shot, I would, of course, had ruined it. I'd have picked fewer men...I would also have made them turn their heads so that they could be identified for AP members throughout the country and nothing like the existing picture would have resulted."



Four of the Flag Raisers (Bradley, Hayes, Sousley & Strank) appear with their jubilant buddies. Strank, Sousley and many of these boys would soon be dead.


As it was, "the photo" became perhaps the most famous single photograph ever taken. It won:


Joe Rosenthal a Pulitzer Prize;
President Franklin D. Roosevelt the badly-needed support of the American people to finish off Japan;
the Treasury coffers 220 million dollars in war bond sales when it was used as the symbol of the Seventh War Loan drive;
unwanted fame for PFC Ira Hayes and PM2 John Bradley;
welcomed fame for PFC Rene Gagnon;
the U. S. Marine Corps a symbol that would memorialize its grit and tenacity forever.



It appeared on literally millions of posters...
and on a U.S. postage stamp.

And it was forever immortalized in the largest bronze statue in the world - the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on 10 November 1954, the 179th anniversary of the Marine Corps.

The popularity of Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the Iwo Jima flag raising caused Brigadier General Robert L. Denig, Director of the Marine Corps Division of Public Information, to try to learn the identity of the six flag raisers. Nor was General Denig the only person interested in learning the names of these men. President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested that the six Marines be located and returned to the United States. The President felt that the safe return of the flag raisers would prove a boon to national morale.

First of the flag raisers to return was Private First Class Rene A. Gagnon. Using an enlargement of the Rosenthal photo, he identified Sergeant Michael Strank, Private First Class Franklin R. Sousley, both of whom had been killed in action, and Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John H, Bradley. He also numbered among the flag raisers Sergeant Henry O. Hansen, who was subsequently killed during the Iwo operation. A year passed before Gagnon realized that the Marine he had believed to be Hansen actually was another victim of the fight on Iwo Jima - Corporal Harlon Block. Ironically, Hansen had taken part in the earlier, less celebrated flag raising on Iwo Jima and was killed by a sniper a few days later while being treated for wounds by Pharmacist's Mate Bradley.

Gagnon at first refused to give the name of the sixth flag raiser. He insisted that he had promised to keep the man's name a secret. Finally, Gagnon revealed that the man was Private First Class Ira H. Hayes.


Bradley, who had been wounded on 12 March 1945, was ordered back to the United States and participated with Hayes and Gagnon in a war bond drive.

Because of the haste with which their bond-selling tour was organized, none of the surviving flag raisers seemed to have had time to examine closely the Rosenthal picture. At any rate, Hayes did not mention his doubts concerning the identity of any of the deceased flag raisers until the winter of 1946. He then claimed that the person at the base of the flagstaff was Corporal Harlon Block. An investigation proved him correct and the list of flag raisers was altered.


continued.....

[thedrifter]

The Iwo Jima flag raisers, as shown in the Rosenthal photograph left to right, are:



"The strength to persist, the courage to endure."



Private First Class Ira H. Hayes (with poncho hanging from belt - died in 1955);


Private First Class Franklin R. Sousley (with slung rifle - killed in action);


Sergeant Michael Strank (barely visible on Sousley's left - killed in action);


Navy Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John H. Bradley (with empty canteen cover hanging from right side of belt - wounded in action - died 1994.);


Private First Class Rene A. Gagnon (helmet barely visible beside Bradley - died 1979);


Corporal Harlon H. Block (at foot of pole - killed in action)









Here's Rosenthal snapping a posed shot minutes after the second flag raising

[thedrifter]

CORPORAL
HARLON HENRY BLOCK, USMC
(DECEASED)






Harlon Henry Block, participant in the famous flag raising on Iwo Jima, was born at Yorktown, Texas, on 6 November 1924.Young Harlon graduated from Weslaco High School in 1943. Following graduation he worked as a farm and oil field laborer.


Block was inducted into the regular Marine Corps through the Selective Service System at San Antonio on 18 February 1943 and transferred to the Recruit Depot at San Diego. Upon completion of recruit training, he was assigned to the Parachute Training School at San Diego on 14 April, where he completed the course in six weeks. He qualified as a parachutist on 22 May and was promoted to private first class on the same day. Block was assigned to the Parachute Replacement Battalion at the same camp.



Arriving at New Caledonia on 15 November 1943, Private First Class Block joined Headquarters and Service Company of the 1st Marine Parachute Regiment, I Marine Amphibious Corps. He saw combat as a rifleman during the latter part of the Bougainville campaign when he landed on that island on 21 December.

On 14 February 1944, he arrived at San Diego with his unit and the parachutists were disbanded on the 29th of that month. Block joined Company E, 2d Battalion, 28th Marines, of the 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton on 1 March. He was promoted to the rank of corporal on 27 October 1944. After training at Camp Pendleton and Hawaii, Block landed on Iwo Jima on 19 February 1945.


Following the securing of Mount Suribachi on 23 February, Corporal Block moved northward with this company. On 1 March, he was killed as the 28th Marines was attacking toward Nishi Ridge. The Marine's body was buried in the 5th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima in Plot 4, Row 6, Grave 912, and was later returned to the United States for private burial at Weslaco, Texas.



Corporal Block was entitled to the following decorations and medals: Purple Heart (awarded posthumously), Presidential Unit Citation with one star (for Iwo Jima), Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two stars (for the Consolidation of the Northern Solomons and Iwo Jima), American Campaign medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.






PHARMACIST'S MATE SECOND CLASS
JOHN HENRY BRADLEY, USN
(DECEASED)






John Henry Bradley was born at Antigo, Wisconsin, on 10 July 1923. The family moved to Appleton, Wisconsin when John was a boy. He graduated from Appleton High School in 1941. Apprenticed to a funeral director, Bradley had just completed the necessary 18-months' apprenticeship course when he enlisted in the Navy on 13 January 1943.


Following boot camp at Farragut, Idaho, Seaman Bradley was assigned to the Hospital Corps School there. Upon the completion of that course, he was transferred to the Naval Hospital at Oakland, California. Assigned to the Fleet Marine Force in January 1944, Pharmacist's Mate Bradley attended Field Medical School - standard training for corpsmen prior to serving with the Marines.

Assigned to the 28th Marines of the 5th Marine Division, he joined the regiment on 15 April 1944. Iwo Jima was his first and only campaign. He landed with the regiment on 19 February and just two days later earned the Nation's second highest award, the Navy Cross, for "extraordinary heroism as a Hospital Corpsman in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima." Bradley rushed to the aid of a wounded Marine, under intense fire bandaged his wounds, and then pulled the Marine 30 yards through heavy enemy fire to a position of safety. He served until wounded in both legs on 12 March by an enemy mortar shell, but refused evacuation until rendering aid to two other wounded Marines. He was evacuated by plane the next day and finally was flown to the Naval Hospital at Bethesda, Maryland. There, Pharmacist's Mate Bradley was presented the Purple Heart on 10 July 1945. He was medically discharged, 13 November 1945.


Bradley's awards include the Navy Cross, Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation with one star (for Iwo Jima), American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one star (for Iwo Jima), and the World War II Victory Medal.



The longest surviving member of the six who raised the second flag on Iwo Jima, Bradley died at the age of 70 on 11 January 1994 in his home town of Antigo, Wisconsin.




CORPORAL
RENE ARTHUR GAGNON, USMCR
(DECEASED)






Rene Arthur Gagnon, participant in the famous flag raising on Iwo Jima, was born at Manchester, New Hampshire, on 7 March 1926. He attended the schools of Manchester and completed two years of high school before leaving to take a job with a local textile mill. On 6 May 1943, he was inducted into the Marine Corps Reserve and sent to Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina.


From Parris Island, Private First Class Gagnon, promoted on 16 July 1943, was transferred to the Marine Guard Company at Charleston, South Carolina, Navy Yard. He remained there for eight months and then joined the Military Police Company of the 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California. Four days later, on 8 April, he was transferred to Company E, 2d Battalion, 28th Marines.



After training at Camp Pendleton and in Hawaii, Gagnon landed with his unit on Iwo Jima on 19 February. After Iwo Jima was secured, he was ordered to Washington, D.C. arriving on 7 April. Together with the other two survivors of the flag raising, Pharmacist's Mate John Bradley and Private First Class Ira Hayes, he was assigned to temporary duty with the Finance Division, U.S. Treasury Department, for appearances in connection with the Seventh War Loan Drive.



He finished the tour on 5 July and was ordered to San Diego for further transfer overseas. Private First Class Gagnon was married to Miss Pauline Georgette Harnois, of Hooksett, New Hampshire, in Baltimore, Maryland, on 7 July.

By September, he was on his way overseas again, this time with the 80th Replacement Draft. On 7 November 1945, he arrived at Tsingtao, China, where he joined Company E, 2d Battalion, 29th Marines, 6th Marine Division. He later served with the 3d Battalion of the same regiment.


On duty with the U.S. occupation forces in China for nearly five months, Private First Class Gagnon boarded ship at Tsingtao at the end of March 1946, and sailed for San Diego, arriving on 20 April.



With nine days short of three years' service in the Marine Corps Reserve, of which 14 months was spent overseas, Gagnon was promoted to corporal and discharged on 27 April 1946. He was entitled to wear the Presidential Unit Citation with one star (for Iwo Jima), the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one star (for Iwo Jima), the World War II Victory Medal, and the China Service Medal.



Corporal Gagnon died on 12 October 1979 in Manchester, New Hampshire, and was buried at Mount Calvary Mausoleum. At his widow's request, Gagnon's remains were reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery on 7 July 1981.



continued.....

[thedrifter]

CORPORAL
IRA HAMILTON HAYES, USMCR
(DECEASED)






Ira Hamilton Hayes, participant in the famous flag raising on Iwo Jima, was a Pima Indian, born at Sacaton, Arizona, on 12 January 1923. In 1932, the family moved a few miles southward to Bapchule. Both Sacaton and Bapchule are located within the boundaries of the Gila River Indian Reservation in south central Arizona. Hayes left high school after completing two years of study. He served in the Civilian Conservation Corps in May and June of 1942, and then went to work as a carpenter.


On 26 August 1942, Ira Hayes enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve at Phoenix for the duration of the National Emergency. Following boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at San Diego, Hayes was assigned to the Parachute Training School at Camp Gillespie, Marine Corps Base, San Diego. Graduated one month later, the Arizonan was qualified as a parachutist on 30 November and promoted to private first class the next day. On 2 December, he joined Company B, 3d Parachute Battalion, Divisional Special Troops, 3d Marine Division, at Camp Elliott, California, with which he sailed for Noumea, New Caledonia, on 14 March 1943.



In April, Hayes' unit was redesignated Company K, 3d Parachute Battalion, 1st Marine Parachute Regiment. In October Hayes sailed for Vella Lavella, arriving on the 14th. Here, he took part in the campaign and occupation of that island until 3 December when he moved north to Bougainville, arriving on the 4th. The campaign there was already underway, but the parachutists had a full share of fighting before they left on 15 January 1944.



Hayes was ordered to return to the United States where he landed at San Diego on 14 February 1944, after slightly more than 11 months overseas and two campaigns. The parachute units were disbanded in February, and Hayes was transferred to Company E, 2d Battalion, 28th Marines, of the 5th Marine Division, then at Camp Pendleton, California.



In September, Hayes sailed with his company for Hawaii for more training. He sailed from Hawaii in January en route to Iwo Jima where he landed on D-day (19 February 1945) and remained during the fighting until 26 March. Then he embarked for Hawaii where he boarded a plane for the U.S. on 15 April. On the 19th, he joined Company C, 1st Headquarters Battalion, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Washington, D.C.

On 10 May, Hayes, Private First Class Gagnon, Pharmacist's Mate Second Class Bradley, and Marine Technical Sergeant Keyes Beech, a combat correspondent, left on the bond selling tour. In Chicago, Hayes received orders directing his return to the 28th Marines. He arrived at Hilo, Hawaii, and rejoined Company E of the 29th on 28 May. Three weeks later, on 19 June, he was promoted to corporal.


With the end of the war, Corporal Hayes and his company left Hilo and landed at Sasebo, Japan, on 22 September to participate in the occupation of Japan. On 25 October, Corporal Hayes boarded his eleventh and last ship to return to his homeland for the third time. Landing at San Francisco on 9 November, he was honorably discharged on 1 December.



Corporal Hayes was awarded a Letter of Commendation with Commendation Ribbon by the Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, Lieutenant General Roy S. Geiger, for his "meritorious and efficient performance of duty while serving with a Marine infantry battalion during operations against the enemy on Vella Lavella and Bougainville, British Solomon Islands, from 15 August to 15 December 1943, and on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, from 19 February to 27 March 1945."



The list of the Corporal's decorations and medals includes the Commendation Ribbon with "V" combat device, Presidential Unit Citation with one star (for Iwo Jima), Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four stars (for Vella Lavella, Bougainville, Consolidation of the Northern Solomons, and Iwo Jima), American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.



The former Marine died at Bapchule on 24 January 1955. He was buried on 2 February 1955 at Arlington National Cemetery, in Section 34, Plot 470A.




PRIVATE FIRST CLASS
FRANKLIN RUNYON SOUSLEY, USMCR
(DECEASED)






Franklin Runyon Sousley, participant in the famous flag raising on Iwo Jima, was born at Flemingsburg, Kentucky, on 19 September 1925. After his graduation from high school in June 1943, he moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he secured a job with the Frigidaire Division of General Motors.


Sousley entered the Marine Corps Reserve on 5 January 1944 through the Selective Service System and was sent to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, for his boot training. Upon completion of recruit training, he was assigned to Company E, 2d Battalion, 28th Marines, of the 5th Marine Division, then at Camp Pendleton, California. Private Sousley joined the company on 15 March as an automatic rifleman and remained with the same unit in the same specialty until he met his death. In September, Private Sousley sailed with his company from San Diego for Hilo, Hawaii, where it arrived on 24 September. The young Marine was promoted to private first class on 22 November 1944.



In the latter part of January 1945, after extensive training and maneuvers, Sousley sailed for Iwo Jima where he landed with his company on D-day, 19 February. Sousley survived the battle for Suribachi and moved northward with his regiment. On 21 March, Private First Class Sousley was killed during the fighting around Kitano Point.

Private First Class Sousley was buried in the 5th Marine Division Cemetery at Iwo Jima in Plot 9, Row 7, Grave 2189. On 22 March 1948, a request was made to return the remains to the United States for reinterment in the Elizaville, Kentucky, Cemetery.


Private First Class Sousley was awarded the following decorations and medals; Purple Heart (posthumously), Presidential Unit Citation with one star (for Iwo Jima), Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one star (for Iwo Jima), and World War II Victory Medal.





SERGEANT
MICHAEL STRANK, USMC
(DECEASED)






Michael Strank, participant in the famous flag raising on Iwo Jima, was born at Conemaugh, Pennsylvania, on 10 November 1919, the son of Vasil and Martha Strank, natives of Czechoslovakia (his father was also known as Charles Strank). He attended the schools of Franklin Borough, Pennsylvania, and graduated from high school in 1937. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps where he remained for 18 months and then became a highway laborer for the state.


Michael Strank enlisted in the regular Marine Corps for four years at Pittsburgh on 6 October 1939. He was assigned to the Recruit Depot at Parris Island where, after completing recruit training in December, Private Strank was transferred to Headquarters Company, Post Troops, at the same base.



Transferred to Provisional Company W at Parris Island on 17 January 1941, Strank, now a private first class, sailed for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, arriving on the 23d. Strank was assigned to Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Brigade (on 1 February, the 1st Marine Brigade was redesignated the 1st Marine Division). On 8 April, now assigned to Company K, he returned to the States and proceeded to Parris Island. In September, Strank moved with the division to New River, North Carolina (now known as Camp Lejeune). He was promoted to corporal on 23 April 1941, and was advanced to sergeant on 26 January 1942.



With the 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, early in April 1942, he journeyed cross-country to San Diego, California, from whence he sailed on the 12th. On 31 May, he landed on Uvea, largest of the Wallis Islands.

In September, after a short tenure with the 22d Marines, he was transferred to the 3d Marine Raider Battalion, also at Uvea. With the raiders, he participated in the landing operations and occupation of Pavuvu Island in the Russell Islands from 21 February until 18 March, and in the seizure and occupation of the Empress Augusta Bay area on Bougainville from 1 November until 12 January 1944. On 14 February, he was returned to San Diego for rest and reassignment.


On return from leave, Sergeant Strank was assigned to Company E, 2d Battalion, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division. After extensive training at Camp Pendleton and in Hawaii, Strank landed on Iwo Jima on 19 February 1945.



After the fall of Mount Surbachi, he moved northward with his unit. On 1 March, while attacking Japanese positions in northern Iwo Jima, he was fatally wounded by enemy artillery fire. He was buried in the 5th Marine Division Cemetery with the last rites of the Catholic Church. On 13 January 1949, his remains were reinterred in Grave 7179, Section 12, Arlington National Cemetery.



Sergeant Strank was entitled to the following decorations and medals: Purple Heart (awarded posthumously), Presidential Unit Citation with one star (for Iwo Jima), American Defense Service Medal with base clasp (for his service in Cuba before the war), American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four stars (for Pavuvu, Bougainville, Consolidation of the Northern Solomons, and Iwo Jima), and the World War II Victory Medal.

[MillRatUSMC]

The writtings of this historic event in World War II are as varied as Homer's Illiad of the Trojan War.
Now we're left to ask "What really happen on 23 February 1945?"
From AppleEater a member of a tank company firing in support of Easy Company's assualt up Mount Surbachi;
"All of a sudden, there appeared a little color atop of Mount Surbachi, than all hell broke loose!"
Many thought it signal the end of that operation.
But it was to last another 26 days and many cheering than, were to die later.
Sad.

Some have Easy Company assaulting to the rim of Mount Surbachi.
Where Sgt. Lowery shot the first Flag raising.
Now there the account of the six Flag raisers accompanying Gene Gannon, Joe Rosental and Sgt. Bill Genaust up Mount Surbachi.
I alway thought that the second Flag raisers were part of Easy Company 2nd Battalion 28th Marines.
No wonder there's being controversy over the past 59 years on those two photo's.

http://www.mca-marines.org/Gazette/sting.html
A nice article on the two Flag raisings on Iwo Jima.


Photo taken by Sgt. Lowery USMC of the first Flag raising.


Another photo taken by Sgt. Lowery of both Flags.


The famous photo taken by Joe Rosenthal of the raising of the second Flag.

There's also a movie clip of this second Flag raising shot by Sgt.Bill Genaust USMC.
Sgt.Bill Genaust is also known as the "man we left behind"

An exceprt from the web;
History records, if little remembers, that Rosenthal's photograph was of the second flag raising on Mt. Suribachi.

E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, under the command of Lieutenant Harold G. Schrier, fought their way to the crater rim. They found a discarded length of pole and tied a small American flag to its end. After five days of bitter fighting, the flag could be seen by the support ships off shore (the wounded were heading back to these ships, and the fresh troops were coming in). The Marines, clinging to the rocks and fighting for advantage in the plains below, were motivated by the flag, too. Hopes of victory were renewed, and the fighting spirit of the men restored.

Marine photographer Lou Lowery took a series of pictures capturing the first flag raising but they were not immediately published. Rosenthal's photo of a second and larger flag raised later in the day was so utterly remarkable that Lowery's shots took a back seat.

In the States the Rosenthal photograph ran in every newspaper and magazine coast to coast. To the public, the photo was a sign that four years of war might finally be coming to a victorious end. Just as E Company's small flag inspired the embattled Marines on Iwo Jima, Rosenthal's perfect picture inspired a nation at home.

Ira Hayes on being asked how does it feel to be a hero;
"How can I feel like a hero, when only 5 men in my platoon of 45 survived, only 27 men in my company of 250 escaped death or injury?"

US Navy Hospital Corpsman John Bradley on heroes;
"No, the heroes are the ones who didn't come home".

TO THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
THAT OTHERS MAY SAY PROUDLY
I AM A MARINE

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo

[MillRatUSMC]

Just as E Company's small flag inspired the embattled Marines on Iwo Jima, Rosenthal's perfect picture inspired a nation at home.

These words might be the reason why Joe Rosenthal's photo was chosen as Marine War memorial because it inspired the Nation in time of war...

TO THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
THAT OTHERS MAY SAY PROUDLY
I AM A MARINE

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo