These images are from the 58th anniversary ceremonies on the island of Iwo Jima March 12, 2002. There is a great article on Iwo written by former Marine Corps Combat Correspondent and Iwo vet Cyril O'Brien at military.com: http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,NI_Iwo_Jima2,00.html

This was a very special trip for me because it was my first and something I have always dreamed of since reading the historic accounts of this terrible battle during the Pacific campaign of WW II. Few Marines ever get the chance to visit this place, considered sacred ground to U.S. Marines. I will update photos from time to time with some additional shots from this trip.

I believe it is very important to photograph our WW II vets in situations like this because so many of them are passing away. One stat I heard, not confirmed, is that 1,000 WW II vets die every day.

I hope more photographers will turn their lenses to these men and women to tell their story. Not that it hasn't been done, but as these veterans die, so too will many of their stories.

The accounts of their service in combat are riveting.

Thanks for stopping by. Please drop me a line with some feedback/reaction to these images if you have a couple minutes to spare.

There were two American flags raised on top of Mount Suribachi, on February 23, 1945. The photograph Rosenthal took was actually of the second flag-raising, in which a larger replacement flag was raised by different Marines than those who raised the first flag.[9]

Raising the first flag Edit
A U.S. flag was first raised atop Mount Suribachi soon after the mountaintop was captured at around 10:20 a.m. on February 23, 1945.[10]


Raising the First Flag on Iwo Jima by SSgt. Louis R. Lowery, USMC, is the most widely circulated photograph of the first flag flown on Mt. Suribachi.[citation needed]
Left to right: 1st Lt. Harold Schrier[11] (kneeling behind radioman's legs), Pfc. Raymond Jacobs (radioman reassigned from F Company), Sgt. Henry "Hank" Hansen wearing cap, holding flagstaff with left hand), Platoon Sgt. Ernest "Boots" Thomas (seated), Pvt. Phil Ward (holding lower flagstaff with his right hand), PhM2c. John Bradley, USN (holding flagstaff with both hands, his right hand above Ward's right hand and his left hand below.), Pfc. James Michels (holding M1 Carbine), and Cpl. Charles W. Lindberg (standing above Michels).
Lieutenant Colonel Chandler W. Johnson, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division, ordered Marine Captain Dave Severance, commander of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, to send a platoon to seize and occupy the crest of Mount Suribachi.[12] First Lieutenant Harold G. Schrier, executive officer of Easy Company, who had replaced the wounded Third Platoon commander, John Keith Wells,[13] volunteered to lead a 40-man combat patrol up the mountain. Lieutenant Colonel Johnson (or 1st Lieutenant George G. Wells, the battalion adjutant, whose job it was to carry the flag) had taken the 54-by-28-inch (137 cm × 71 cm) flag from the battalion's transport ship, USS Missoula, and handed the flag to Schrier.[14][15] Johnson said to Schrier, "If you get to the top, put it up." Schrier assembled the patrol at 8 a.m. to begin the climb up the mountain.

Despite the large numbers of Japanese troops in the vicinity, Schrier's patrol made it to the rim of the crater at about 10:15 a.m., having come under little or no enemy fire, as the Japanese were being bombarded at the time.[16] The flag was attached by Schrier and two Marines to a Japanese iron water pipe found on top, and the flagstaff was raised and planted by Schrier, assisted by Platoon Sergeant Ernest Thomas and Sergeant Oliver Hansen (the platoon guide) at about 10:30 a.m.[11] (On February 25, during a CBS press interview aboard the flagship USS Eldorado about the flag-raising, Thomas stated that he, Schrier, and Hansen had actually raised the flag.)[17] The raising of the national colors immediately caused a loud cheering reaction from the Marines, sailors, and coast guardsmen on the beach below and from the men on the ships near the beach. The loud noise made by the servicemen and blasts of the ship horns alerted the Japanese, who up to this point had stayed in their cave bunkers. Schrier and his men near the flagstaff then came under fire from Japanese troops, but the Marines quickly eliminated the threat.[18] Schrier was later awarded the Navy Cross for volunteering to take the patrol up Mount Suribachi and raising the American flag, and a Silver Star Medal for a heroic action in March while in command of D Company, 2/28 Marines on Iwo Jima.

Photographs of the first flag flown on Mount Suribachi were taken by Staff Sergeant Louis R. Lowery of Leatherneck magazine, who accompanied the patrol up the mountain, and other photographers afterwards.[19][20] Others involved with the first flag-raising include Corporal Charles W. Lindberg (who also helped raise the flag),[21][page needed][better source needed] Privates First Class James Michels, Harold Schultz, Raymond Jacobs (F Company radioman), Private Phil Ward, and Navy corpsman John Bradley.[22] This flag was too small, however, to be easily seen from the northern side of Mount Suribachi, where heavy fighting would go on for several more days. (Wiki)