Iwo Jima Memorial

Eye catching

VERY NICE PIC I LIKE IT

Hey I watched the flag of our fathers, and I saw that picture of IWO Jima. Is it true about the real flag was taken down for the second one?

Re: Iwo Jima Memorial

Originally Posted by maysoon

Hey I watched the flag of our fathers, and I saw that picture of IWO Jima. Is it true about the real flag was taken down for the second one?

That all depends on how you define the "real" flag.The original flag raised was a smaller version. One of the officers felt that it was too small to be seen so he sent for one of the large battle flags from one of the Navy ships...When the new flag arrived they exchanged the smaller flag for the larger one and raised it up; that is the image you usually see. This is why there are those numbies who like to say that the flag raising was "staged." I have run into this stupidity for many years and not one of these UNQ's/POU's have ever been able to explain just what "staged" means;are they saying that there was no flag raising? Maybe there was no battle on Iwo Jima?? Or perhaps there were no Marines on Iwo and the flag raising wasn't seen by thousands of Soldiers, Sailors and Marines and there was no war in the Pacific either!!

There is a film record of the flag raising taken by Staff Sgt. Bill Genaust,USMC who is still on Iwo Jima. His body was sealed up in a cave because it was too dangerous to recover during the battle.

Now, there was a second picture taken by Rosenthal that was "posed". It was a kind of "class picture" of all the guys who were on top of Suribachi and of course it was posed, how else do you take a group picture? Anyway, Rosenthal didn't think the flag raising picture would be a big deal because he thought he had missed the shot; he didn't know how great a shot it was or how much of an an impact it had until he got back to the mainland. It was the group pic he thought people were refering to when when he confirmed "the picture" had been posed. He spent the next fifty years explaining the mix up. I met Joe Rosenthal one day in 1961 when he came to LeJeune to do an article for Leatherneck and some civillian reporters were still asking if the "raising" was staged! There will always be that Ten Percent who do not get the word.
Even after he passed away in 06 or 07, the mealymouths were posting negative "staged" messages on the comments sites. Some of these conspiracy nuts will try to sell the old "Done on a stage in Hollywood" routine." Four of the guys never got off the island!

Anyone interested in this story can simply Google or search for "Iwo Jima flagraising" or Joe Rosenthal. There were many photogs on Iwo, also try Douglas R. Page for some chilling photos, especially those of the Divisional grave sites. I hope this helps to get you and others started on your own research. Read some books.
Semper Fi, Pvt Knumb Nutz

Re: Iwo Jima Memorial
I can remember being on Riot Duty at this Hallowed Place Butt Smaching A FREAK Who was waving an NVA.Flag pus this My Home town S/F