IWO JIMA

Just in case you forgot ...

Today is the day that the five Marines and a Navy corpsman raised the flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima.

The famous photo (which actually shows the second flag raising) was taken by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press.A patrol led by Lt. Harold Schreir raised a small flag on top of Mt. Suribachi. at 1020 ours.

The front four in the image are (left to right), PFC Ira Hayes, PFC Franklin Sousley, Navy Corpsman PHM 2/C John Bradley, and Cpl. Harlon Block. The back two are Sgt. Michael Strank, behind Sousley, and PFC Rene Gagnon, behind Bradley.

Three of the flag raisers, Sousley, Block, and Strank, were killed in the battle for the island, which was declared secure on March 16, 1945; 6,821 Americans had died, as had nearly the entire 21,000-man force of Japanese (1,083 POWs). Over 25,000 Marines of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisons were either killed or wounded.

After the war, Gagnon, Hayes and Bradley (the only survivors), posed for sculptor Felix W. de Weldon, who constructed the statue that became the Marine Corps War Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Inscribed on the statue's base is the tribute of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz to the fighting men of Iwo Jima: "Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue." Opposite this, is the inscription: "In honor and in memory of men of the United States Marine Corps who have given their lives to their country since November 10, 1775." The Memorial was officially dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on November 10, 1954.

Semper Fi.