| Description |
SHIPPING AVAILABLE > An authentic original lithograph, under glass, presented in a wood frame measuring 22.5 x 12.5, depicting the War Memorial statue in Washington, DC, during a ceremony ~ Diminutive printed lettering to the lower margin reads > NAVMC 6897c ~ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1963 O-714-601.
CONDITION REPORT > Slight buckling to the print under glass ~ Watermarks, spotting to print ~ Frame suffers from chips, blemishes, scratches to plaster over wood ~ Brittle bbacking paper taped at rear.
HISTORY of the WAR MEMORIAL STATUE
The tiny island of Iwo Jima lies 660 miles south of Tokyo. Mount Suribachi, an extinct volcano that forms the narrow southern tip of the island, rises 550 feet to dominate the ocean around it. US troops had recaptured most of the other islands in the Pacific Ocean that the Japanese had taken in 1941 and 1942. In 1945 Iwo Jima became a primary objective in American plans to bring the Pacific campaign to a successful conclusion.
On the morning of February 19, 1945, the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions invaded Iwo Jima after an ineffective 72-hour bombardment. The 28th Regiment of the 5th Division, was ordered to capture Mount Suribachi. They reached the base of the mountain on the afternoon of February 21 and, by nightfall the next day, had almost completely surrounded it. On the morning of February 23, Marines of Company E, 2nd Battalion, started the tortuous climb up the rough terrain to the top. At about 10:30 am men all over the island were thrilled by the sight of a small American flag flying from atop Mount Suribachi. That afternoon, when the slopes were clear of enemy resistance, a second, larger flag was raised in the same location.
Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press caught the afternoon flag-raising in an iconic photograph that eventually won a Pulitzer Prize. Sculptor Felix W. de Weldon, then on duty with the US Navy, was so moved by the image that he constructed first a scale model and then a life-size model of it. Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, and John Bradley posed for the sculptor as he modeled their faces in clay. These three men were believed to be the survivors of the famous flag raising (the others were killed on Iwo Jima). All available pictures and physical statistics of the three who had given their lives were collected and then used in the modeling of their faces.
The US Marine Corps has since concluded that John Bradley and Rene Gagnon were not in the famous image of the flag raising. Instead it was Private First Class Harold Schultz and Corporal Harold P. Keller in their positions. Thus the six flag raisers were Corporal Harlon Block, Corporal Harold P. Keller, Private First Class Ira Hayes, Private First Class Harold Schultz, Private First Class Franklin Sousley, and Sergeant Michael Strank. To learn more about the identities of the flag raisers, please read the US Marine Corps' statements on the discovery of participation by Harold Schultz and Harold Keller.
Once the statue was completed in plaster, it was carefully disassembled and trucked to Brooklyn, N.Y., for casting in bronze. The casting process, which required the work of experienced artisans, took nearly 3 years. After the parts had been cast, cleaned, finished, and chased, they were reassembled into approximately a dozen pieces--the largest weighing more than 20 tons--and brought back to Washington, D.C., by a three-truck convoy. Here they were bolted and welded together, and the statue was treated with preservatives.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicated the memorial in a ceremony on November 10, 1954, the 179th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps.
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