Saturday, November 10, 2012

Happy Birthday To The Corps






Today, November 10th, is the 237th birthday of the United States Marine Corp. In those 237 years many Marines have served this country with honor, my father included. So my post today is dedicated to my father.
 
There are many important events connected to the Marine Corps in our country’s history but few have such a visual impact as the flag raising on Iwo Jima when five Marines and a Navy Corpsman planted the flag on Mt. Suribachi. A moment memorialized by photographer Joe Rosenthal. The moment is also captured in the Marine Corps War Memorial statute located outside of Arlington National Cemetery.
 
Most people do not know that this famous photograph was actually of the second flag raised on the mountain. The first flag was raised shortly after the Marines took control but Lt. Colonel Chandler W. Johnson told one of his officers to return to the ships for a larger flag so all the Marines on the island could see it once it was raised up, which he figured would lift their spirits. This is one of only a few photographs of the first flag to be raised on Mt Suribachi, taken by Marine SSgt. Louis R Lowery of Leatherneck Magazine.
 

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