73 years ago today, we raised the flag on Mt. Suribachi

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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is an iconic photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945, which depicts six United States Marines raising a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi,[1] during the Battle of Iwo Jima, in World War II.

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The photograph was first published in Sunday newspapers on February 25, 1945. It was extremely popular and was 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 came to be regarded in the United States as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war.

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Three Marines in the photograph, Sergeant Michael Strank, Corporal Harlon Block (misidentified as Sergeant Hank Hansen until January 1947), and Private First Class Franklin Sousley were killed in action over the next few days. The other three surviving flag-raisers in the photograph were Corporals (then Private First Class) Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, and Harold Schultz (misidentified as PhM2c. John Bradley until June 2016).[2] Both men originally misidentified as flag raisers had helped raise a smaller flag about 90 minutes earlier, and were both still on the mountaintop and witnessed – but were not part of – the specific moment of raising the larger flag that was captured in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo. All men were under the command of Brigadier General Harry B. Liversedge.

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On Iwo's beach, Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal rhapsodized to the overall Marine commander, LtGen Holland P. "Howlin' Mad" Smith. "Holland," he said, "this means a Marine Corps for another 500 years." The crusty general, tears in his eyes, chomped on his unlit cigar and said, "I'm proud as hell to be wearing my Marine uniform."

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