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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