Okla-homey
2/23/2011, 07:37 AM
February 23, 1945: Marines Raise Flag on Iwo Jima's Mt. Surabachi
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab7/Okla-homey/iwo1258392654_700371bb94_b.jpg
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/8753/zzzzzzus2mg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
On this day 66 years ago, during the bloody Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Division take the crest of Mount Suribachi, the island's highest peak and most strategic position, and raise the U.S. flag. Marine photographer Louis Lowery was with them and recorded the event. American soldiers fighting for control of Suribachi's slopes cheered the raising of the flag, and several hours later more Marines headed up to the crest with a larger flag.
Joe Rosenthal, a photographer with the Associated Press, met them along the way and recorded the raising of the second flag along with a Marine still photographer and a motion-picture cameraman.
Rosenthal took three photographs atop Suribachi. The first, which showed five Marines and one Navy corpsman struggling to hoist the heavy flag pole, became the most reproduced photograph in history and won him a Pulitzer Prize. The accompanying motion-picture footage attests to the fact that the picture was not posed.
Of the other two photos, the second was similar to the first but less affecting, and the third was a group picture of 18 soldiers smiling and waving for the camera. Many of these men, including three of the six soldiers seen raising the flag in the famous Rosenthal photo, were killed before the conclusion of the Battle for Iwo Jima in late March.
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab7/Okla-homey/iwol721flag.gif
The third Rosenthal photo
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab7/Okla-homey/iwo1014iwojima1.jpg
Today, the flag is on display at the USMC Museum at Quantico, VA
Iwo Jima was a barren Pacific island guarded by Japanese artillery, but to American military minds, it was prime real estate on which to build airfields to launch bombing raids against Japan, only 660 miles away.
The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese defense of the island in February 1944, when B-24 and B-25 bombers bombed and strafed the island for 74 days.
It was the longest pre-invasion bombardment of the war, necessary because of the extent to which the Japanese--21,000 strong--fortified the island, above and below ground, including a network of caves.
Underwater demolition teams ("frogmen") were dispatched by the Americans just before the actual invasion. When the Japanese fired on the frogmen, they gave away many of their "secret" gun positions.
http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/3383/zzzzlandingbeach5ev.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Landing beach viewed from atop Mt Surabachi...note the typical rough surf with which the marines had to contend apart from the volume of fire poured on them from the defending Japanese.
The amphibious landings of Marines began the morning of February 19 as the Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, accompanied by journalists, surveyed the scene from a command ship offshore. As the Marines made their way onto the island, seven Japanese battalions opened fire on them.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3900/zzzzziwo20sand9cx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Iwo landing beach with Mt Surabachi in the background
By evening, more than 550 Marines were dead and more than 1,800 were wounded. The capture of Mount Suribachi, the highest point of the island and bastion of the Japanese defense, took four more days and many more casualties.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1566/zzzziwomon15hi.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Monument atop Mt Surabachi memorializing the sacrifice of the Fifth (V)Marine Division.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/4253/zzzzzusmarinecorpswarmemorialk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Marine Corps Memorial near the Pentagon in the shadow of Arlington National Cemetery. Based of course, on that famous photo.
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab7/Okla-homey/iwo1258392654_700371bb94_b.jpg
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/8753/zzzzzzus2mg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
On this day 66 years ago, during the bloody Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Division take the crest of Mount Suribachi, the island's highest peak and most strategic position, and raise the U.S. flag. Marine photographer Louis Lowery was with them and recorded the event. American soldiers fighting for control of Suribachi's slopes cheered the raising of the flag, and several hours later more Marines headed up to the crest with a larger flag.
Joe Rosenthal, a photographer with the Associated Press, met them along the way and recorded the raising of the second flag along with a Marine still photographer and a motion-picture cameraman.
Rosenthal took three photographs atop Suribachi. The first, which showed five Marines and one Navy corpsman struggling to hoist the heavy flag pole, became the most reproduced photograph in history and won him a Pulitzer Prize. The accompanying motion-picture footage attests to the fact that the picture was not posed.
Of the other two photos, the second was similar to the first but less affecting, and the third was a group picture of 18 soldiers smiling and waving for the camera. Many of these men, including three of the six soldiers seen raising the flag in the famous Rosenthal photo, were killed before the conclusion of the Battle for Iwo Jima in late March.
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab7/Okla-homey/iwol721flag.gif
The third Rosenthal photo
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab7/Okla-homey/iwo1014iwojima1.jpg
Today, the flag is on display at the USMC Museum at Quantico, VA
Iwo Jima was a barren Pacific island guarded by Japanese artillery, but to American military minds, it was prime real estate on which to build airfields to launch bombing raids against Japan, only 660 miles away.
The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese defense of the island in February 1944, when B-24 and B-25 bombers bombed and strafed the island for 74 days.
It was the longest pre-invasion bombardment of the war, necessary because of the extent to which the Japanese--21,000 strong--fortified the island, above and below ground, including a network of caves.
Underwater demolition teams ("frogmen") were dispatched by the Americans just before the actual invasion. When the Japanese fired on the frogmen, they gave away many of their "secret" gun positions.
http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/3383/zzzzlandingbeach5ev.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Landing beach viewed from atop Mt Surabachi...note the typical rough surf with which the marines had to contend apart from the volume of fire poured on them from the defending Japanese.
The amphibious landings of Marines began the morning of February 19 as the Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, accompanied by journalists, surveyed the scene from a command ship offshore. As the Marines made their way onto the island, seven Japanese battalions opened fire on them.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3900/zzzzziwo20sand9cx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Iwo landing beach with Mt Surabachi in the background
By evening, more than 550 Marines were dead and more than 1,800 were wounded. The capture of Mount Suribachi, the highest point of the island and bastion of the Japanese defense, took four more days and many more casualties.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1566/zzzziwomon15hi.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Monument atop Mt Surabachi memorializing the sacrifice of the Fifth (V)Marine Division.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/4253/zzzzzusmarinecorpswarmemorialk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Marine Corps Memorial near the Pentagon in the shadow of Arlington National Cemetery. Based of course, on that famous photo.