In less than a fraction of a second, one man took one image that would give hope to millions. Though the photo continues to evoke strong emotions, the photographer is no longer with us. Joe Rosenthal, who took the iconic photograph of U.S. soldiers raising the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, died yesterday of natural causes. He was ninety-four. Rosenthal shot his Pulitzer Prize-winning photo on February 23, 1945, four days after U.S. Marine forces hit the black sand beaches of Iwo Jima in a fierce battle against 21,000 entrenched Japanese soldiers. Rosenthal’s photograph, which caused a sensation when it was released in the closing months of the Second World War, would later become the model for the Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.
“What I see behind the photo is what it took to get up to those heights — the kind of devotion to their country that those young men had, and the sacrifices they made,” Rosenthal once said.
Vision Forum was privileged to honor Iwo’s young warriors — now in the twilight of their lives — when we journeyed with the aging vets back to the island for the sixtieth anniversary of the battle. This story is told in our film, The League of Grateful Sons. To learn about this engaging documentary, visit: www.leagueofgratefulsons.com.