Flag Photo

Flag Photo

Joe Rosenthal and the Flag-raising on Iwo Jima

Joseph John Rosenthal was born on October 9, 1911 in Washington, D.C. to Russian Jewish immigrants. During the Great Depression Joe took up photography as a hobby while living with his brother in San Francisco, California, but soon became a reporter/photographer for the San Francisco News. Unable to enlist in the Army because of poor vision, he joined the Associated Press and became an embedded journalist involved in Marine Corps campaigns in the Pacific during World War II.

 

Battle of Iwo Jima: On February 23, 1945, the fifth day of a 36 day battle that would eventually leave 6,621 Americans dead, Joe had heard that an American flag was being raised on Mount Suribachi, so he hurried to reach the top of the small volcano in hopes of capturing a still shot of the flag-raising. Along the way, he had heard that the flag had already been raised but he continued his climb anyway so that he could photograph the flag flying.

 

After reaching the top of the summit, he noticed a group of Marines preparing to raise a larger flag by attaching it to a long pipe, so he decided that he would concentrate on taking the photo of a second flag-raising. After adjusting his camera's lens setting and its speed to 1/400th second he quickly noticed that the Marines had started raising the flag so he was forced to swing around rather quickly to take the shot but was able to push the shutter just in time.

 

This much needed photo soon became a symbol for victory back in the United States and was published around the world as early as February 25, 1945. This Pulitzer Prize winning photograph, after making the cover of several magazines and placed on a US postage stamp, would later be used as a model for the Marine Corps War Memorial at Arlington. The Pulitzer Committee described this photo as "a frozen flash of history" and as "depicting one of the war's great moments". It has also been called the greatest photograph ever taken and that it could very well be the most widely reproduced. It stirred the American people in their rally for victory at a very critical time in the war.

 

After leaving the AP in 1945, Joe became chief photographer and manager of Times Wide World Photos, and then on to becoming a photographer for the San Francisco Chronicle, where he worked for 35 years before retiring in 1981. In 1996 he was named as an honorary Marine by General Charles Krulak. He died on August 20, 2006, at the age of 94, of natural causes in Novato, a suburb of San Francisco. He was found in his bed at 10:45 a.m. in an assisted living center after passing away in his sleep. Joe outlived everyone in his famous photograph.

 

Rosenthal was portrayed by actor Ned Eisenberg in the movie, "Flags of Our Fathers", in 2006 and posthumously awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal by the US Marines. Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal said of Rosenthal, "He was as gallant as the men going up that hill". The photo remains the pride of the US Marine Corps in that it represents the fighting spirit of the brave men that both risked and gave their lives on that small island.

 

Of his experiences in combat situations, it has been said that very few military men have seen as much war-time action as Joe Rosenthal. He was in a North Atlantic convoy of Liberty Ships under attack by German U-boats, in London during the Blitz, in the jungles of New Guinea with General MacArthur's fighting army, on several war-time ships in the South Pacific, in the cockpits with Navy pilots while attacking Japanese controlled territory in the Philippines, in the initial wave of beach landings while under fire in Guam, Peleliu, Angaur, and Iwo Jima.

 

Of his prize winning photograph, Joe modestly said, "I took the picture, the Marines took Iwo Jima". He also said, "Every once in a while someone teases me that I could have been rich. But I'm alive. A lot of the men who were there are not. And a lot of them were badly wounded. I was not. And so I don't have the feeling someone owes me for this." Joe made very little money from the photo. He was grateful just to be alive. He was very knowledgeable in World War II history because for him it was quite personal. He once said that his proudest possession was his framed certificate which declared him an honorary Marine. It sometimes takes years for a photographer to be in the right place at the right moment. Joe's moment was on Mount Suribachi. Was he born for that moment? Some may think so. I don't know, but I and millions of proud Americans like me are grateful that he was there.

About the Author

James Bolton is founder and creator of lovefortheflag.com, a website dedicated to the flag of the United States of America and to promoting patriotism and loyalty to country.

Is "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" arguably the most famous photo in American history?

Yes, Joe Rosenthal's photo on Mt. Suribachi is iconic of the World War II generation and of the U.S. Marine Corps for all time.

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