February 23, 1945 found United States Marines, Navy Corpsmen and fire direction teams on Iwo Jima in a fight to the death with its Japanese defenders. Since landing four days earlier, Americans were dying in terrible numbers. In the first days of the battle, a Marine or Corpsman was killed or wounded every 30 seconds.
Thirty-three-year-old Associated Press photographer, Joe Rosenthal, joined Marines to the top of Mt. Suribachi, the highest point on the island. The Marines were there to replace the American flag with a larger one, one big enough to be seen across the island. The Marines carried their rifles to the summit, the diminutive Rosenthal carried only his cameras.
As Marines fought and died below, Joe Rosenthal and the Marine patrol met their fate on the summit; the Marines raising our flag, and Joe Rosenthal photographing it. In a single moment, Joe's photo "captured the soul of a nation," one photography magazine wrote. Across the island, men looked up to see their flag flying; battleships and cruisers offshore paused their bombardment and sounded their horns for a solid five minutes. Two days later, the photo ran on the front page of Sunday newspapers across America. Joe Rosenthal won the Pulitzer Prize.
Although Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima became arguably the most reproduced photograph in history, Joe Rosenthal, remained modest about it, famously saying,
“I took the picture, but the Marines took Iwo Jima.”
The powerful photo of indomitable Americans lifted public spirit in a war-weary America. The photo became the centerpiece of the 1945 Seventh War Bond drive, raising $26 billion for the wartime Treasury. Along with the Eagle, Globe and Anchor, the flag raising photo is now a symbol of the United States Marine Corps.
Public and Congressional demand soon landed Joe’s photo on a first-class stamp, selling 137 million stamps, a record number. The Department of the Navy awarded Rosenthal the Distinguished Public Service Award. He was named an Honorary Marine, the honor he placed above all others.
After the war, Joe Rosenthal photographed for the San Francisco Chronicle for 35 years and was a member of the USMC Combat Correspondents Association chapter that now bears his name. Joe remained a patriotic American until his death in 2006.