Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is a historic photograph taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. It depicts six U.S. Marines raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The image became an iconic symbol of American resolve and sacrifice, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in 1945 and later serving as the model for the United States Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

Background and context

The photograph was taken during the intense and costly Battle of Iwo Jima, a major engagement between the United States and the Empire of Japan. The strategic objective of capturing the island, part of the Volcano Islands, was to secure airfields for B-29 Superfortress bombers conducting raids on the Japanese archipelago. The assault was led by the U.S. Marine Corps' V Amphibious Corps, primarily consisting of the 3rd Marine Division, 4th Marine Division, and 5th Marine Division, against formidable defenses prepared by the Imperial Japanese Army under General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. After days of fierce combat, a U.S. Navy patrol vessel, the USS *Missoula*, delivered a flag to be raised on the summit of Mount Suribachi, which had been captured by a Marine patrol from Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines.

The photograph

On the morning of February 23, a small patrol from Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, including Sergeant Michael Strank, Corporal Harlon Block, Private First Class Franklin Sousley, Private First Class Ira Hayes, Private First Class Harold Schultz, and Private First Class Harold Keller, was ordered to raise a larger replacement flag. Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, along with Marine photographer Sergeant Louis R. Lowery and a film crew from Fox Movietone News, ascended the slope. Rosenthal nearly missed the moment but quickly composed the shot as the six men struggled to plant the flagpole into the rocky terrain. The resulting image, developed and transmitted by the Associated Press, featured the men pushing the flag upright against a backdrop of sky, with the slopes of Mount Suribachi and the Pacific Ocean visible below.

Aftermath and legacy

The photograph was published on the front pages of newspapers across the United States, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, and was met with immediate public acclaim. It was used extensively in U.S. Treasury Department Seventh War Loan drive posters to rally support for the war effort. Three of the flag-raisers—Michael Strank, Harlon Block, and Franklin Sousley—were later killed in action on Iwo Jima. The surviving three—Ira Hayes, Harold Schultz, and Harold Keller—were brought back to the United States for a publicity tour. In 1954, the image was immortalized in bronze as the United States Marine Corps War Memorial by sculptor Felix de Weldon, dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower near Arlington National Cemetery. The flag itself is housed in the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia.

Copyright and reproductions

The photograph was taken by Joe Rosenthal as an employee of the Associated Press, and the copyright was initially held by the Associated Press as a work made for hire. Under U.S. copyright law at the time, the image entered the public domain in the United States because it was published without a proper copyright notice. However, the Associated Press has historically asserted trademark rights over commercial reproductions of the image. The photograph has been reproduced countless times in media, including in films like The Sands of Iwo Jima starring John Wayne, and on postage stamps issued by the United States Postal Service. Legal disputes over its use have involved entities such as the United States Marine Corps and the Estate of Joe Rosenthal.