At 09:50 PM 7/13/96 -0800, Mark Loundy wrote:
>I cringe every time this is brought up because somebody always manages to take a phrase out of context to support the Urban Myth that the famous Iwo shot was staged.

>This Urban Myth surfaces every few months. It is not true and it tarnishes one of the most memorable war photographs ever made.

>Althought the famous picture is not of the first flag raising on Mt. Suribachi, neither was it a staged media event. The officer in command of the operation felt that the first flag was too small and wanted it to be visible both to the Marines, and to the Japanese defenders who were still fighting fiercely. So he ordered that a larger flag be raised. His motivation was the strategic morale of both sides, not publicity.

>AP photographer Joe Rosenthal and newsreel photographer Sgt. Bill Genaust accompanied the detachment to the top of the hill. They did not direct the scene in any way. There wasn't even the now common, "Hey, are you guys ready for us to start?" In fact, the actual flag raising took both of the photographers a bit by surprise. If you've seen the newsreel footage you'll see that the sequence starts with the raising in progress.

>The 5-foot-2 Rosenthal was standing on sandbags when Genaust took up a position next to him. Genaust asked if he was in Rosenthal's way. "No," said Rosenthal who saw the flag going up out of the corner of his eye, "and there it goes."

>When Rosenthal started getting congratulations, he thought everybody was talking about a later photo he had made showing several GI's gathered around the flag waving rifles and helments to the folks back home. Several days later he saw the flag-raising shot.

>The stories of the flag raisers is told in the wonderfully researched "Flags of Our Fathers" by James Bradley. Bradley is the son of one of the flag raisers, a Navy Corpsman, who can be seen in profile just to the left of the flag pole.

>--Mark Loundy

Mark,

The movie photog. was Sgt. Bill Genaust. Rosenthal's reporter was the late Bill Hipple who was later known in L.A. as the P.R man for American (I believe) Airlines.

The 5'2" Rosenthal was standing on sandbags when Genaust took up a position next to him. Genaust asked if he was in Rosenthal's way. "No," said Rosenthal who saw the flag going up out of the corner of his eye, "and there it goes." They both raised their cameras and made history.

When Rosenthal started getting congratulations, he thought everybody was talking about a later photo he had made showing several GI's gathered around the flag waving rifles and helments to the folks back home. Several days later he saw the flag raising shot.