The "A Ship Is The Least They Could Do!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Looking back over a few stories I had written in the past to see what I might have written about Joe Rosenthal.  Name familiar to you?  It was back on February 26, 2013 that I wrote a story titled "The Photos That Changed Us Forever." One of the photos I posted was the iconic photograph taken of six Marines who were raising the American flag over Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945.  

Joe Rosenthal with his Speed Graphic.

It was taken by a 33-year-old man by the name of Joseph John Rosenthal who had at one time been rejected by the U.S. Army as a photographer because of poor eyesight.  He then attended the University of San Francisco and joined the staff of the Associated Press.  Then in 1943 he joined the United States Maritime Service as a photographer and served aboard ship in the British Isles and North Africa.  A year later he rejoined the Associated Press and followed the Army and Marines in the Pacific Theater as a war correspondent in Hollandia, New Guinea, Guam, Peleliu, Angaur and Iwo Jima.  Then, on Friday morning, February 23, 1945, four days after the Marines landed at Iwo Jima, Joe was making his daily visit to the island on a Marine landing craft when he heard that an American flag was being raised atop Mount Suribachi, a volcano at the southern tip of the island.  He grabbed his bulky Speed Graphic camera and began to climb up to the summit of the mountain.  

His famous photograph.

He met another photo- grapher who was on his way down who told him he had already taken a photo.  Joe headed to the top anyway.  When he arrived he discovered a group of Marines had attached a large flag to a length of steel pipe.  The flag raised earlier was being taken down while the second and larger was being raised.  Rosenthal used stones and a sandbag to help him steady his camera.  He set the camera to f/8 with a shutter speed of 1/400th of a second and snapped the photo as the six Marines began to raise the flag.  Another photographer, Sgt. Genaust, captured the same thing in color motion picture film.  He also took a few more shots, mostly posed.  

Later photo of Joe Rosenthal.

His photograph was seen as a symbol of victory when it went around the world appearing in the Sunday newspapers on February 25, 1945.  After the battle for Iwo Jima was over and won, the photo was used for posters in war bond drives.  The photo was used as a model for the United States Marine Corps War Memorial at Arlington, Virginia.  The photograph was also used on a U.S. Postal Stamp.  It won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography the same year it was published becoming the only photograph to ever do so.  Mr. Rosenthal died August 20, 2006, but his name is back in the news once again.  Seems a group of veterans and photographers have banded together and will ask the U.S Navy to name a warship after him.  On October 9th, on the 106th anniversary of his birthday, a petition was submitted to the Navy.  It may be a longshot that his name appears on a ship, but those who are trying figure it is worth the effort for the guy who has taken one of the most famous photographs in history; one of the photos that has changed us forever.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.