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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

Print, Comics and Photojournalism Landmarks

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is a photograph taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945, depicting six United States Marines raising an American flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in the Second World War. The image was taken during a second, larger flag-raising staged after an earlier flag had already been planted on the peak, a fact that later became the subject of extended public controversy over the photograph's spontaneity. Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography, became the basis for the United States Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, and remains one of the most reproduced photographs in history.

Facts
Release Year
1945 1
Country
United States 1
Classification
Award
Pulitzer Prize 1
FAQs

Was the Iwo Jima flag-raising photograph staged?

It shows a real second flag-raising that replaced a smaller first flag.

No. The photograph records the second flag-raising on Mount Suribachi. When Joe Rosenthal and two Marine combat photographers reached the summit, one group of Marines was taking down the first, small flag while another prepared to raise a larger flag in its place, and the second flag went up as the photographers recorded it. Historian Dwight Jon Zimmerman, writing for Defense Media Network, states that the second flag-raising was not staged.
Connections

Created By

Joe Rosenthal, Figures
Source Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (Wikipedia)

In Medium

Source Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases

Originated In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.

Sources
1. Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead paragraph, second sentence
    Taken by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press on February 23, 1945, the photograph was published in Sunday newspapers two days later and reprinted in thousands of publications.
  • Lead paragraph, first sentence
    Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is an iconic photograph of six United States Marines raising the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in the final stages of the Pacific War.
  • Lead, pulitzer-prize
    It won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Photography and has come to be regarded in the United States as one of the most recognizable images of World War II.
  • In Medium: Photography, Article lead sentence
    Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (Japanese: 硫黄島の星条旗, Hepburn: Iōjima no Seijōki) is a photograph of six United States Marines raising the U.S.
  • Created By: Joe Rosenthal, Lead: creator
    Taken by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press on February 23, 1945, the photograph was published in Sunday newspapers two days later and reprinted in thousands of publications.
  • In Group: War and Conflict Photographs, Lead
    Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (Japanese: 硫黄島の星条旗, Hepburn: Iōjima no Seijōki) is a photograph of six United States Marines raising the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in the final stages of the Pacific War.
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