Joe Rosenthal - "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" 1945

The photo "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" 1945 was taken on February 23, 1945 during the battle for the Japanese island in the Pacific (Feb 19 - Mar 26, 1945). Soldiers of the U.S. Marine Corps raised a large U.S. flag on the summit of Mount Suribachi, the highest elevation on the island, replacing a smaller flag erected shortly before that same day. The scene was made famous by a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph by photographer Joe Rosenthal, who was commissioned by the Associated Press to cover the Pacific theater of war during World War II. The iconic shot became one of the most famous and widely reproduced war photographs, printed millions of times on posters and sold as postage stamps. In addition, "Raising the Flag" is the template for the United States Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington.