The Flag Over Iwo Jima
"The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years.
" - Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal.
Sixty-six years ago, February 23, 1945, six U.
S.
Marines and one Navy corpsman raised the American flag on Iwo Jima's Mt.
Suribachi on the fifth day of a thirty-five day battle, one of the most intense in World War II, if not in all of recorded history.
Of the six flag raisers, three would die in battle shortly thereafter.
The Americans would suffer 26,038 casualties, of which 6,821 would die on an island 4.
5 miles long and 2.
5 miles wide.
The number of U.
S.
casualties at Iwo Jima was greater than the total Allied casualties on D-Day.
With the battle still raging, the iconic, Pulitzer-Prize winning photograph captured by Joe Rosenthal has often been described as the most famous photograph ever taken.
The image was, among other things, the basis for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington, D.
C.
The three surviving flag raisers became national celebrities as they eventually traveled the country in endless bond drives, so far from the horrors they had experienced at Iwo Jima.
Their fellow countrymen were eager to meet the reluctant Marine and Navy heroes that had been depicted in the already famous photo.
Marines, it seems, have flag raising in their DNA.
From Iwo to Hue City to Baghdad, there always seems to be a Marine with a flag when the situation presents itself.
I have had the distinct honor of seeing the actual flag that was raised on Iwo Jima, and the sight of it made my heart race and my throat constrict.
Even though I have traveled to some of the world's finest museums, I cannot remember viewing any other artifact that affected me so instantly and so deeply as did the sight of that slightly faded, bullet-scarred flag.
No one could have known that such a seemingly simple flag-raising would result in something as symbolic and powerful and enduring as the Marines and corpsman with the raised flag pictured atop Suribachi.
There is no greater representation of Marine Corps determination and can-do spirit, and the ultimate sacrifice that so often comes along with it, than the photograph from Iwo Jima.
To the Marines of Iwo Jima, thank you for your bravery, your honor, and the steep price in blood you were willing to pay.
May the Corps, indeed, live another 500 years.
Semper Fi.
" - Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal.
Sixty-six years ago, February 23, 1945, six U.
S.
Marines and one Navy corpsman raised the American flag on Iwo Jima's Mt.
Suribachi on the fifth day of a thirty-five day battle, one of the most intense in World War II, if not in all of recorded history.
Of the six flag raisers, three would die in battle shortly thereafter.
The Americans would suffer 26,038 casualties, of which 6,821 would die on an island 4.
5 miles long and 2.
5 miles wide.
The number of U.
S.
casualties at Iwo Jima was greater than the total Allied casualties on D-Day.
With the battle still raging, the iconic, Pulitzer-Prize winning photograph captured by Joe Rosenthal has often been described as the most famous photograph ever taken.
The image was, among other things, the basis for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington, D.
C.
The three surviving flag raisers became national celebrities as they eventually traveled the country in endless bond drives, so far from the horrors they had experienced at Iwo Jima.
Their fellow countrymen were eager to meet the reluctant Marine and Navy heroes that had been depicted in the already famous photo.
Marines, it seems, have flag raising in their DNA.
From Iwo to Hue City to Baghdad, there always seems to be a Marine with a flag when the situation presents itself.
I have had the distinct honor of seeing the actual flag that was raised on Iwo Jima, and the sight of it made my heart race and my throat constrict.
Even though I have traveled to some of the world's finest museums, I cannot remember viewing any other artifact that affected me so instantly and so deeply as did the sight of that slightly faded, bullet-scarred flag.
No one could have known that such a seemingly simple flag-raising would result in something as symbolic and powerful and enduring as the Marines and corpsman with the raised flag pictured atop Suribachi.
There is no greater representation of Marine Corps determination and can-do spirit, and the ultimate sacrifice that so often comes along with it, than the photograph from Iwo Jima.
To the Marines of Iwo Jima, thank you for your bravery, your honor, and the steep price in blood you were willing to pay.
May the Corps, indeed, live another 500 years.
Semper Fi.
Source...