Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

Six United States Marines strain together to plant an American flag atop Mount Suribachi, their bodies bending into the effort as the fabric catches the wind. Joe Rosenthal caught this scene on February 23, 1945, during the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the timing was almost pure chance. He was still fussing with his camera when the men began hoisting the pole, and he nearly missed the shot entirely. A little-known detail is that this was the second flag raised that day. The first one was too small for the troops below to spot, so commanders sent up a bigger replacement, which is the one you see here.

The photograph hit home hard, giving Americans a burst of hope during a grim season of the war. It went on to inspire the enormous Marine Corps War Memorial near Arlington National Cemetery and won Rosenthal the Pulitzer Prize. Behind its triumphant feel lies a sadder truth, since three of the six men pictured were killed in the fighting on Iwo Jima soon after. The diagonal thrust of the flagpole and the way the figures lean as one give the image the balance of a carved monument, and that quiet sense of shared struggle is why it still moves people today.