Felix de Weldon (AMERICAN, 1907-2003), THE ORIGINAL IWO JIMA MONUMENT.

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FELIX DE WELDON (AMERICAN, 1907-2003), THE ORIGINAL IWO JIMA MONUMENT. Sculpted in Washington, D.C., June-September 1945.Cast stone over a steel skeleton welded to a steel base, the monument finished with a bronzed lacquered layer.Height 20 feet, width 8 feet, length 18 feet, 7 inches, approximate weight 10,000 pounds. A SYMBOL OF WARTIME BRAVERY, OF NATIONAL UNITY, AND OF THE MARINE CORPS. THE ORIGINAL IWO JIMA MONUMENT WAS CONCEIVED BY FELIX DE WELDON ON THE EVENING OF THE 23rd FEBRUARY 1945, based on the Rosenthal photograph of the second flag raising on Iwo Jima on the 4th day of the battle, as it came through to the naval base at Patuxent Naval Air Station, Maryland, where Felix de Weldon was stationed. This is one of the most potent images of heroism and bravery in battle of the 20th century. The raising of the stars and stripes on the summit of Mount Suribachi on the fourth day of fighting for the island in February 1945 has become a symbol of American nationalism and unity and serves as a fitting monument to the bravery of the Marine Corps Forces serving around the World to this very day. The Battle for Iwo Jima The small island of Iwo Jima is situated in the Pacific Ocean about halfway between the Mariana Islands and Japan. For Japan, its location made an ideal early-warning station against raids on Japanese cities. For the United States, Iwo Jima presented the opportunity to create emergency landing airfields for naval fighter plane escorts as well as a land-based air support station to protect US naval fleets sailing close to Japan. For these reasons, capturing the island was critical to the United States' efforts toward victory during World War II. On February 19, 1945, after more than two months of relentless bombardment of Iwo Jima by the United States naval fleet, the Marines of the 4th and 5th Divisions landed on the small island. Enemy gunfire from 554-foot Mt. Suribachi caused devastating casualties and damage to the Marines on the beaches below. The Assault on Mt. Suribachi On the evening of February 23, after reviewing the progress of the landing, the Marines were ordered to take Mount Suribachi and plant a United States flag upon reaching its summit. The next morning a forty-man Marine detachment was ordered up the north face. They reached the rim by 10:15AM. Upon reaching the top, a length of pipe was found in the wrecked Japanese radar station on the summit to which a 28 x 54-inch flag was tied and raised over Suribachi between 10:20 and 10:37AM. Radio communications alerted the American fleet of the flag's raising, and when the flag was seen, the entire fleet sounded their ships' horns with a deafening roar. AP Photographer Joe Rosenthal's Famous Photograph Also landing that morning was Associated Press Photographer Joe Rosenthal who joined the rush toward Mount Suribachi. Unbeknownst to Rosenthal, Marine commanders were not satisfied with the small flag and had ordered that it be replaced with a larger, more visible flag and a larger 56 x 96-inch flag was rushed to the summit of Mount Suribachi. At the top, Rosenthal tried to find the Marines who had raised the first flag, figuring he could get a group picture of them beside it. When the men could not be found, he turned his attention to a group of Marines preparing the second, larger flag to be raised. Joe Rosenthal recounted the following memory of the event for Collier's Magazine in 1955: 'I thought of trying to get a shot of the two flags, one coming down and the other going up, but although this turned out to be a picture Bob Campbell got, I couldn't line it up. Then I decided to get just the one flag going up, and I backed off about 35 feet. I put my Speed Graphic down and quickly piled up some stones and a sandbag to raise me about two feet (I am only 5 feet 5 in...