Editing Battle of Iwo Jima (section)

==Raising the flag on Mount Suribachi==
[[File:Stars and Stripes on Mount Suribachi (Iwo Jima).jpg|thumb|upright|U.S. flag over Mount Suribachi]]
[[File:3c-Iwo Jima.jpg|thumb|upright|U.S. postage stamp, 1945 issue, commemorating the Battle of Iwo Jima]]

''[[Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima]]'' is a black and white photograph taken by [[Joe Rosenthal]] depicting six Marines from E Company, [[2nd Battalion, 28th Marines]], raising a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi on 23 February 1945,<ref name="ap"/> which was the second of two flag-raisings on the site that day. The photograph was extremely popular, being reprinted in thousands of publications. Later, it became the only photograph to win the [[Pulitzer Prize for Photography]] in the same year as its publication, and ultimately came to be regarded as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war, and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time.<ref name="ap"/> The flag raising picture was later used by [[Felix de Weldon]] to sculpt the [[Marine Corps War Memorial]] which is located adjacent to [[Arlington National Cemetery]] since 1954.<ref name="ap"/>

Three of the six Marines depicted in the photograph, Sergeant [[Michael Strank]], Corporal [[Harlon Block]], and Private First Class [[Franklin Sousley]], were killed in action days after the flag-raising. Surviving flag-raiser Private First Class [[Ira Hayes]], together with Private First Class [[Rene Gagnon]] and [[Hospital corpsman|Navy hospital corpsman]] Pharmacist's Mate Second Class [[John Bradley (United States Navy)|John Bradley]], became celebrities upon their participation in a [[war bond]] selling tour after the battle. Three subsequent Marine Corps investigations into the identities of the six men in the photograph determined: in 1946 and 1947, that Harlon Block was incorrectly identified as Henry Hansen (both were killed six days after the photo was taken); in May and June 2016, that John Bradley was not in the photograph and Private First Class [[Harold Schultz]] was;<ref>[http://www.marines.mil/News/News-Display/Article/810457/usmc-statement-on-iwo-jima-flagraisers/ USMC Statement on Marine Corps Flag Raisers] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624115022/http://www.marines.mil/News/News-Display/Article/810457/usmc-statement-on-iwo-jima-flagraisers/|date=24 June 2016}}, Office of U.S. Marine Corps Communication, 23 June 2016</ref> and in 2019, that Rene Gagnon was not in the photograph and Private First Class [[Harold Keller]] was.<ref>{{cite news |title=Warrior in iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising photo was misidentified, Marines Corps acknowledges |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/warrior-iconic-iwo-jima-flag-raising-photo-was-misidentified-marines-n1064766 |work=NBC News |date=2019-10-16 |access-date=2020-03-02 |archive-date=19 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219165628/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/warrior-iconic-iwo-jima-flag-raising-photo-was-misidentified-marines-n1064766 |url-status=live}}</ref>

By the morning of 23 February, Mount Suribachi was effectively cut off above ground from the rest of the island. The Marines knew there was an extensive network of below-ground defenses, and that in spite of its isolation above ground, the volcano was still connected via the tunnel network. They expected a fierce fight for the summit. Two small patrols from two rifle companies of the 2/28 Marines were sent up the volcano to reconnoiter routes on the mountain's north face. The recon patrols made it to the summit and scrambled down again, reporting all enemy contacts to the 2/28 Marines commander, Lieutenant Colonel [[Chandler W. Johnson]].<ref name=Allen>{{harvnb|Allen|2004}}</ref>

Popular accounts published by the press in the aftermath of the release of the photo of the flag raising had the Marines fighting all the way up to the summit. Although the Marine riflemen expected an ambush, the larger patrol going up afterwards encountered only a few defenders once on top and after the flag was raised. The majority of the Japanese troops stayed in the tunnel network during shelling, only occasionally attacking in small groups, and were generally all killed.

Johnson called for a reinforced platoon-size patrol from E Company to climb Suribachi and seize and occupy the crest. The patrol commander, First Lieutenant [[Harold G. Schrier]], was handed the battalion's American flag to be raised on top to signal Suribachi's capture, if they reached the summit. Johnson and the Marines anticipated heavy fighting, but the patrol encountered only a small amount of sniper fire on the way up the mountain. After the mountain top was secured by Schrier and his men, a length of Japanese water pipe was found among the wreckage; the American flag was attached to the pipe and then raised and planted on top of Mount Suribachi, becoming the first foreign flag to fly on Japanese soil.<ref name="LAT_20070626">{{cite news |access-date=30 November 2008 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jun-26-me-lindberg26-story.html |title=Charles Lindberg, 86; Marine helped raise first U.S. flag over Iwo Jima |date=26 June 2007 |page=B8 |work=Los Angeles Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022152425/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jun/26/local/me-lindberg26 |archive-date=22 October 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> Photographs of the flag and some of the patrol members around it were taken by Marine photographer [[Louis R. Lowery]], the only photographer who had accompanied Schrier's patrol up the mountain.

As the flag went up, Secretary of the Navy [[James Forrestal]] had just landed on the beach at the foot of Mount Suribachi and decided that he wanted the flag as a souvenir. Johnson believed that the flag belonged to the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, who had captured that section of the island. In the early afternoon, Johnson sent Gagnon, a runner (messenger) from his battalion for E Company, to take a larger flag up the volcano to replace the smaller and less visible flag. The replacement flag was attached to a heavier section of water pipe, and six Marines proceeded to raise it into place as the smaller flag was taken down and delivered to the battalion's headquarters down below. It was during this ''second'' flag-raising that Rosenthal took the iconic photograph "''Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima"''. The second flag flew on Mount Suribachi until it was taken down on 14 March, when, at the same time, an American flag was officially raised during a ceremony at the [[V Amphibious Corps]] command post near Mount Suribachi. The official flag raising was ordered by General Holland Smith and attended by General Erskine and some members of the 3rd Marine Division.