The statue is a recreation of the famous photo taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945, which later won him a Pulitzer prize.
What most of us don't realize is that Rosenthal's photo was actually of a second flag raising to replace the first flag raised earlier that day.
That morning a squad of 40 marines was given the task of climbing to the top of Mt. Suribachi to keep the Japanese from using the peak for firing on American soldiers below. The Mountain was the highest feature on Iwo Jima and commanded a view of the entire island., seen in this photo. Their commander gave them a flag with instructions to raise it when (and if) they reached the summit.
The patrol reached the top of Mt. Suribachi with very little opposition and proceeded to attach the flag to a pole and raised it for those below to see. The patrol had with them a photographer from Leatherneck Magazine, S. Sgt Louis Lowery who took several pictures of the first flag raising.
Shortly after the flag raising, the group was assaulted by Japanese soldiers, but they were fought off quickly. Now the story gets interesting. The flag was seen by Marines below and caused great celebration, the men cheering and the boats at sea blowing their horns. There happened to be traveling with the invasion fleet, Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal. As Forrestal stepped shore amid the cheering he said to the Marine commander that he wanted that flag for his office.
The commander, not to be accused of disobeying orders, called together another group that was preparing to string a telephone line to the top of the hill, handed them a larger flag and told them to replace the one already up and bring it down to him.
The second group climbed the hill, again without opposition, and notified those already on top that they wanted to replace their flag. Orders are orders, so the first flag was taken down as the second one was going up.
Joe Rosenthal had climbed up with the second group, and was informed by photographer Lowery that he, Rosenthal, had missed a great shot! Little did he know. Rosenthal got his camera ready just as the second flag was coming down, turned quickly and snapped the second one going up. Asked if he had got it, replied that he wished he could have seen their faces. He then got the group together and took another picture of them standing around the new flag.
He didn't even know that he had the historical picture in his camera until days later when the film was developed and he suddenly realized what he had taken.
The picture was sent to the newspapers and quickly became a national sensation. And just as quickly, the myths began to grown. The picture was interpreted as the victory celebration on Iwo Jima, that the battle was over and had been won. In actuality, the battle continued until March 16th, almost another month. During that time, three of the original flag raisers had been killed.
The U.S. government quickly saw the financial benefit in the image and brought the three survivors back to the United States for a bond selling drive.
Rene Gagnon John Bradley Ira Hayes
The drive was a huge success and the three men were turned into overnight heroes as a war-weary nation celebrated upcoming victory in the Pacific theater.
There was a bit of confusion for a time because one of the dead soldiers honored turned out be misidentified. At first the names published included Henry Hansen, who had raised the first flag, but not the second. One of the living soldiers, Ira Hayes, knew that this was wrong, because it was actually his buddy Harlon Block, also dead, who had raised the second flag. When the misnaming became known, the government officials leading the bond drive told them all to shut up because the truth would hurt the bond drive. Only later did Hayes manage to get the confusion cleared up.
Henry Hansen Harlon Block
The battle of Iwo Jima was finally won and proved to be crucial in the defeat of Japan, but the flag raising was not a celebration of this victory, but an incident near the beginning of the battle. We were in such great need at the time for some sort of cheering news, that the flag raising, the second flag raising, was quickly turned into myth, as it remains today.
