1945 - For three days, the men of Company E, Second Battalion, Twenty-eighth Marines, had fought their way to the top of Mount Suribachi, a 550-foot-high extinct volcano at the southern end of the island of Iwo Jima. They first raised a small flag to signal their victory and a larger flag later.
In Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize picture of the six men raising this second flag, 21 year old Cpl. Harlon Block from Weslaco, Texas, was the stooping figure guiding the base of the flagpole into the volcanic ash. Sadly, he never saw the famous picture as he was killed in action on March 1st that year as his unit advanced in the direction of Mishi Ridge.
While in Harlingen, Texas last fall for business, I had the pleasure of visiting the Iwo Jima Memorial located at the Marine Military Academy, where 100% of their graduates are accepted into colleges or universities. The memorial of that iconic photo is breathtaking and is a must see in Texas.
What is your favorite military memorial in Texas?
“Give me an army of West Point graduates and I'll win a battle. Give me a handful of Texas Aggies, and I'll win the war.” ~ General George S. Patton
I met Felix de Weldon - the sculptor who was commissioned to make the memorial. 50 years afterward he still had great pride not just in creating that sculpture - but the other 33 in Washington. The Iwo Jima Memorial is still the largest bronze sculpture in the world to date.
ReplyDeleteDe Weldon enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II and was discharged with the rank of Painter Second Class (PTR 2). He became a United States citizen in 1945.
At the conclusion of the war, the Congress of the United States commissioned de Weldon to construct the statue for the Iwo Jima memorial in the realist tradition, based upon the famous photograph of Joe Rosenthal, of the Associated Press agency, taken on 23 February 1945. De Weldon made sculptures from life of three of the six men raising the flag. The other three, who had died in action later, were sculpted from photographs. De Weldon took nine years to make the memorial, and was assisted by hundreds of other sculptors. The result is the 100-ton bronze statue which is on display in Arlington, Virginia.
More on him here: http://www.spqrfineart.com/Ambiog.html