Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, an iconic photograph taken on February 23, 1945 by Joe Rosenthal, depicts five United States Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman raising the Flag of the United States atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. The photograph was instantly popular, being reprinted in hundreds 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 in history, and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time.

 

Of the six men depicted in the picture, three (Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, and Michael Strank) did not survive the battle; the three survivors (John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, and Ira Hayes) became suddenly famous. The photograph was later used by Felix de Weldon to sculpt the USMC War Memorial, located just outside Washington, D.C.

 

Because the famous picture taken by Rosenthal actually captured the second flag-raising event of the day. A U.S. flag was first raised atop Suribachi soon after it was captured early in the morning of 23 February 1945. However, this flag raised was too small to be seen easily from the nearby landing beaches. Consequently, a second, larger flag was sent up to be raised so that it could be seen by Naval vessels. The men sent to raise this flag were accompanied by two photographers.

 

Bill Genaust, who was standing almost shoulder-to-shoulder with Rosenthal about thirty yards from the flag raising, was shooting motion-picture film during the flag-raising. His film also captures the flag raising at an almost-identical angle to Rosenthal's famous shot.

 

Following the second flag raising, Rosenthal had the Marines of Easy Company pose for a group shot, which he called the "gung-ho" shot. A few days later he was asked if he had posed the photo. Thinking the questioner was referring to the 'gung-ho' picture, he replied "Sure." As a result of this , Rosenthal has repeatedly been accused of having staged the picture, or covering up the first flag raising. One New York Times book reviewer even went so far as to suggest revoking his Pulitzer Prize Over the decades that have followed, Rosenthal has repeatedly and vociferously refuted claims that the flag raising was staged.

 

 

 

America's earliest militias were basically groups of paramilitary citizen-soldiers organized for the defense of the colonies. Able-bodied men, as young as 16 and as old as 60, were required to join.

 

As early as 1645, Massachusetts militias were supposed to designate men from each company as rapid responders, ready for action in half an hour or less. The term "minuteman" was used to refer to these rapid responders as far back as 1750. But the minutemen as a distinctive fighting force really emerged in 1774, when Massachusetts militias reorganized for the impending revolution.

 

That year, authorities in Worcester County fired all their militia's officers (to eliminate British sympathizers). They also improved the militia's training regimen and declared that one-third of all militiamen should "be ready to act at a minute's warning." Five days later, the town of Concord voted to establish a similar force. Towns and counties across the colonies followed suit, and the "minutemen" became the elite irregular troops of the fledgling American nation.

 

Ex-minuteman Thomas Brown recalled that these elite fighters had "to hold themselves continually in readiness to turn out at a moment's warning . . . in whatever place their services might be required." Pre-Revolutionary War militias generally met only once a year--and then mainly for drinks, tall tales, and target shooting. But the new minuteman units drilled two, three, or even four times a week.

 

They were the most active and physically capable men available. Most were under 20 years old, though their ranks also included fathers and even grandfathers. Among the hundred or so Lexington minutemen, a dozen were father-son teams and three were men over 60.

 

About a third of all minutemen were veterans of the French and Indian War, where they had learned guerrilla tactics. Most supplied their own firearms, and--like the rest of America's militiamen--they elected officers from their own ranks. This improved morale and ensured that officers who were not sufficiently anti-British quickly lost their jobs.

 

Minutemen from Lexington fought the first battle of the Revolution. On the morning of April 19, 1775, a few dozen stood their ground on Lexington Common, awaiting the approach of several hundred British soldiers. The British had been ordered to march to Concord and capture the town's weapons. Along the way, they were supposed to stop in Lexington and arrest John Hancock and Sam Adams.

 

According to an American who survived the fight, when the British soldiers came in sight of the minutemen blocking their path, a British officer yelled, "Lay down your arms, you damned rebels, or you are all dead men." Although they were outnumbered at least seven to one, the minutemen refused to lower their muskets.

 

No one knows for sure who fired first. Eight Americans were killed and ten wounded during the battle, which ended when the remaining minutemen retreated into the woods. No British soldiers were killed. Hancock and Adams had already fled, so the British marched on to Concord--and into a shootout with three or four hundred militiamen at the town's North Bridge.

 

The British soldiers withdrew, but as they marched back to Boston, minutemen and other local guerrillas shot them to pieces. British losses from the Battle of Lexington and Concord ultimately totaled 73 dead and 174 wounded. The American Revolution had begun.