photo IWO JIMA STATUE MARINE CORPS MEMORIAL WW2 USMC

Pricing & History

Sold for
Start Free Trial or Sign In to see what it's worth.
Sold Date
Source eBay

Original 8" x 10" glossy photograph of part of the IWO JIMA STATUE in the casting stages. The caption on the reverse reads as follows: THIS PICTURE SHOWS THE MANNER IN WHICH THE INTERMAL BRACES ARE PLACED SO AS TO GET THE MAXIMUM SUPPORT FROM THEM. Hdqtrs. No. 304299 - Defense Dept. Photo - Marine Corps - Bill Little. This is an ORIGINAL image and not a modern repro or copy. Great addition to any Iwo Jima, WWII,. WW2. Marines, Semper Fidelis, Leatherneck, Devil Dog, Marine Corps War Memorial. monument, art etc collection. Standard uninsured postage in the continental US is FREE and Priority mail with delivery confirmation is $ 6.00.Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is a historic photograph taken on February 23, 1945, by Joe Rosenthal . It 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 extremely popular, being 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, and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time. [ 1 ]Of the six men depicted in the picture, three ( Franklin Sousley , Harlon Block , and Michael Strank ) were killed during the battle; the three survivors ( John Bradley , Rene Gagnon , and Ira Hayes ) became celebrities upon their identification in the photo. The picture was later used by Felix de Weldon to sculpt the Marine Corps War Memorial , located adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington, D.C.Contents [ hide ] 1 Background 2 Raising the first flag 3 Raising the second flag 4 Publication and staging confusion 5 The 7th war bond drive and the sixth man controversy 6 Legacy 6.1 In other media 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links[ edit ] Background Mount Suribachi is the dominant geographical feature of the island of Iwo Jima . Main article: Battle of Iwo JimaOn February 19, 1945, as part of their island-hopping strategy to defeat Japan , the United States invaded Iwo Jima . Iwo Jima was originally not a target, but the relatively quick fall of the Philippines left the Americans with a longer-than-expected lull prior to the planned invasion of Okinawa . Iwo Jima is located half-way between Japan and the Mariana Islands , where American long-range bombers were based, and was used by the Japanese as an early warning station , radioing warnings of incoming American bombers to the Japanese homeland. The Americans, after capturing the island, deprived the Japanese of their early warning system, and used it as an emergency landing strip for damaged bombers, saving many American lives. [ 2 ]Iwo Jima is a volcanic island, shaped like a trapezoid . Marines on the island described it as "a gray pork chop ". The island was heavily fortified, and the invading United States Marines suffered high casualties. The island is dominated by Mount Suribachi , a 546-foot (166 m) dormant volcanic cone situated on the southern tip of the island. Politically, the island is part of the prefecture of Tokyo . It would be the first Japanese homeland soil to be captured by the Americans, and it was a matter of honor for the Japanese to prevent its capture.Tactically, the top of Suribachi is one of the most important locations on the island. From that vantage point, the Japanese defenders were able to accurately spot artillery onto the Americans - particularly the landing beaches. The Japanese fought most of the battle from underground bunkers and pillboxes . It was not uncommon for Marines to knock out one pillbox using grenades or a flamethrower , only to have it begin shooting again a few minutes later after more Japanese infantry slipped into the pillbox using a tunnel. The American effort concentrated on isolating and capturing Suribachi first, a goal that was achieved on February 23, 1945, four days after the battle began. Despite capturing Suribachi, the battle continued to rage for many days, and the island would not be declared "secure" until 31 days later, on the 26th of March.[ edit ] Raising the first flag Lowery's most widely circulated picture of the first flag raising. This picture is usually captioned as: 1st Lt. Harold G. Schrier with Platoon Sergeant Boots Thomas (both seated), PFC James Michels (in foreground with M1 Carbine ), Sergeant Hank Hansen (standing, wearing soft cap), Corporal Charles W. Lindberg (standing, extreme right), on Mount Suribachi at the first flag raising. However, PFC Raymond Jacobs disputed these identifications, [ 3 ] and asserted that it should be: Pfc James Robeson (lower left corner; not visible in this cropped version of the photo), Lt. Harold Schrier (sitting behind his legs), Pfc Raymond Jacobs (carrying radio), Sgt. Henry Hansen (cloth cap), unknown (lower hand on pole), Sgt Ernest Thomas (back to camera), Phm2c John Bradley (helmet above Thomas), Pfc James Michels (with carbine), Cpl Charles Lindberg (above Michels).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 (around 10:20) of February 23, 1945. Captain Dave Severance was ordered by 2nd Battalion Commander Chandler Johnson to send a platoon to go take the mountain. [ 4 ] Severance, the commander of Easy Company ( 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines , 5th Marine Division ), ordered First Lieutenant Harold G. Schrier to lead the patrol. Just before Schrier was to head up the mountain Commander Chandler Johnson handed him a flag saying, "if you get to the top put it up." Johnson's adjutant, second lieutenant Greeley Wells, had taken the 54-by-28-inch (140-by-71-centimeter) American flag from their transport ship, the USS Missoula (APA-211) . [ 5 ] The patrol reached the top without incident and the flag was raised, and photographed by Staff Sergeant Louis R. Lowery , a photographer with Leatherneck magazine . [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] Others present at this first flag raising included Corporal Charles W. Lindberg , Platoon Sergeant Ernest I. Thomas Jr. , Sergeant Henry O. "Hank" Hansen , Private Gene Marshall (sometimes disputed as Raymond Jacobs ), and Private First Class James Michels . [ 9 ] This flag was too small, however, to be seen easily from the nearby landing beaches.The Secretary of the Navy , James Forrestal , had decided the previous night that he wanted to go ashore and witness the final stage of the fight for the mountain. Now, under a stern commitment to take orders from Howlin' Mad Smith , the secretary was churning ashore in the company of the blunt, earthy general. Their boat touched the beach just after the flag went up, and the mood among the high command turned jubilant. Gazing upward, at the red, white, and blue speck, Forrestal remarked to Smith: "Holland, the raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years."Forrestal was so taken with fervor of the moment that he decided he wanted the Suribachi flag as a souvenir. The news of this wish did not sit well with 2nd Battalion Commander Chandler Johnson, whose temperament was every bit as fiery as Howlin Mad's. 'To hell with that!' the colonel spat when the message reached him. The flag belonged to the battalion, as far as Johnson was concerned. He decided to secure it as soon as possible, and dispatched his assistant operations officer, Lieutenant Ted Tuttle , [ 10 ] to the beach to scare up a replacement flag. As an afterthought, Johnson called after Tuttle "And make it a bigger one." [ 11 ]The roar of the Marines on the islands and ship horns blasting away alerted the Japanese who up to this point had stayed in their cave bunkers. The Americans quickly found themselves under fire from Japanese troops but were able to quickly eliminate the threat with the only casualty being Lowery's camera. [ 12 ][ edit ] Raising the second flag A diagram of the photo indicating the six men who raised the flag: Ira Hayes , Franklin Sousley (†), Michael Strank (†), John Bradley , Rene Gagnon and Harlon Block (†).(†) = Killed on Iwo Jima Film shot by Bill Genaust , excerpted from the 1945 "Carriers Hit Tokyo" newsreel.On orders from Colonel Chandler Johnson, passed on by Captain Severance, Sergeant Michael Strank, Corporal Harlon H. Block, Private First Class Franklin R. Sousley and Private First Class Ira H. Hayes spent the morning of the 23rd laying a telephone wire to the top of Suribachi. Severance also dispatched Private First Class Rene A. Gagnon, a runner, to the command post for fresh SCR-300 walkie-talkie batteries.Meanwhile, according to the official Marine Corps history, Tuttle had found a larger (96-by-56 inch) flag in nearby Tank Landing Ship LST 779, made his way back to the command post, and given it to Johnson. Johnson, in turn, gave it to Gagnon with orders to take it back up Suribachi and raise it. [ 13 ] The official Marine Corps history of the event is that Tuttle received the flag from Ensign Alan Wood of LST 779, who in turn had received the flag from a supply depot in Pearl Harbor . However, the Coast Guard Historian's Office supports claims made by Robert Resnick, who served aboard LST 758. "Before he died in November 2004, Resnick said Gagnon came aboard LST-758 the morning of February 23 looking for a flag. Resnick said he grabbed one from a bunting box and asked permission from commanding officer Lt. Felix Molenda to donate it. Resnick kept quiet about his participation until 2001." [ 14 ] The flag itself was sewn by Mabel Sauvageau, a worker at the "flag loft" of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard . [ 15 ]The Marines reached the top of the mountain around noon, where Gagnon joined them. Despite the large numbers of Japanese troops in the immediate vicinity, the 40-man patrol made it to the top of the mountain without being fired on once, as the Japanese were under bombardment at the time. [ 16 ]Rosenthal, along with Marine photographers Bob Campbell and Bill Genaust (who was killed in action nine days after the flag raising) [ 17 ] was climbing Suribachi at this time. On the way up, the trio met Lowery (the man who photographed the first flag raising). They had been considering turning around, but Lowery told them that the summit was an excellent vantage point from which to take pictures. [ 12 ]Rosenthal's trio reached the summit as the Marines were attaching the flag to an old Japanese water pipe. Rosenthal put down his Speed Graphic camera (which was set to 1/400th of a second shutter speed , with the f-stop between 8 and 16) on the ground so he could pile rocks to stand on for a better vantage point. In doing so, he nearly missed the shot. Along with Navy Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John H. Bradley, the five Marines began raising the U. S. flag. Realizing he was about to miss it, Rosenthal quickly swung his camera up and snapped the photograph without using the viewfinder . [ 18 ] Ten years after the flag-raising, Rosenthal wrote:Out of the corner of my eye, I had seen the men start the flag up. I swung my camera and shot the scene. That is how the picture was taken, and when you take a picture like that, you don't come away saying you got a great shot. You don't know.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 captures the flag raising at an almost-identical angle to Rosenthal's famous shot.In late 1946, Ira Hayes (pictured) broke his silence and revealed that Harlon Block had been misidentified as Hank Hansen . Rene Gagnon John Bradley , who temporarily needed crutches following the battle due to shrapnel injuries, appearing next to a poster for the 7th War bond drive.Of the six men pictured -- Michael Strank , Rene Gagnon , Ira Hayes , Franklin Sousley , John Bradley , and Harlon Block -- only three (Hayes, Gagnon, and Bradley) survived the battle. Strank was killed six days after the flag raising when a shell, likely fired from an offshore American destroyer, tore his heart out; Block was killed by a mortar a few hours after Strank; Sousley -- the last of the flag-raisers to succumb in the battle -- was shot and killed by a sniper on March 21, a few days before the island was declared secure. [ 19 ][ edit ] Publication and staging confusionFollowing the flag raising, Rosenthal sent his film to Guam to be developed and printed. [ 20 ] George Tjaden of Hendricks , Minnesota , was likely the technician who printed it. [ 21 ] Upon seeing it, AP photo editor John Bodkin exclaimed "Here's one for all time!" and immediately radiophotoed the image to the AP headquarters in New York at 7:00 a.m., Eastern War Time . [ 22 ] The photograph was picked up off the wire very quickly by hundreds of newspapers. It "was distributed by Associated Press within seventeen and one-half hours after Rosenthal shot it--an astonishingly fast turnaround time in those days." [ 23 ]However, the photo was not without controversy. Following the second flag raising, Rosenthal had the Marines of Easy Company pose for a group shot, the " gung-ho " shot. [ 24 ] This was also documented by Bill Genaust. [ 25 ] A few days after the picture was taken, back on Guam, Rosenthal was asked if he had posed the photo. Thinking the questioner was referring to the 'gung-ho' picture, he replied "Sure." After that, Robert Sherrod , a Time-Life correspondent, told his editors in New York that Rosenthal had staged the flag-raising photo. Time ' s radio show, 'Time Views the News', broadcast a report, charging that "Rosenthal climbed Suribachi after the flag had already been planted... Like most photographers [he] could not resist reposing his characters in historic fashion." [ 1 ]As a result of this report, Rosenthal was repeatedly accused of staging 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. [ 1 ] For the decades that have followed, Rosenthal repeatedly and vociferously denied claims that the flag raising was staged. "I don't think it is in me to do much more of this sort of thing... I don't know how to get across to anybody what 50 years of constant repetition means." [ 1 ] Genaust's film also shows the claim that the flag-raising was staged to be erroneous.[ edit ] The 7th war bond drive and the sixth man controversyUpon seeing the photo, President Franklin D. Roosevelt realized the picture would make an excellent symbol for the upcoming 7th war bond drive, and ordered the Marines identified and brought home. The Marines were brought home at the conclusion of the battle. Using a photo enlargement, Rene Gagnon identified the others in the photograph, but refused to identify the sixth man (Hayes), insisting he had promised to keep the man's name a secret. [ 26 ] Gagnon had promised not to discuss Hayes's identity because Hayes--who despised Gagnon--had threatened to kill him. [ 27 ] After being brought to Marine Corps headquarters and informed that he was being ordered by the President to reveal the information, and that refusing an order to reveal the name would be a serious crime, Gagnon finally revealed Hayes's name.Gagnon also misidentified Harlon Block as Sergeant Henry O. "Hank" Hansen , who had not survived the battle (but who had, incidentally, participated in the first flag raising). Initially, John Bradley concurred with all of Gagnon's identifications. On April 8, 1945, the Marine Corps released the identification of five of the flag raisers (including Hansen)--Sousley's identity was withheld pending notification of his family of his death during the battle.The three survivors went on a whirlwind bond tour. The tour was a success, raising $26.3 billion, twice the tour's goal. [ 28 ]Questions lingered about the misidentification of Harlon Block. His mother, Belle Block, refused to accept the official identification, noting that she had "changed so many diapers on that boy's butt, I know it's my boy." [ 29 ] Immediately on arrival in Washington, D.C. on April 19, Hayes noticed the misidentification in the photo, and informed the Marine public relations officer who had been assigned to him. The public relations officer told Hayes that the identifications had already been officially released, and ordered Hayes to keep silent about it. [ 30 ]Over a year and a half later, amidst the depression and alcoholism that would characterize the rest of his life following the war, Ira Hayes hitchhiked to Texas to inform Block's family that Block had, in fact, been the sixth flag raiser. [ 31 ]Ira remembered what Rene Gagnon and John Bradley could not have remembered, because they did not join the little cluster until the last moment: that it was Harlon [Block], Mike [Strank], Franklin [Sousley] and himself [Hayes] who had ascended Suribachi midmorning to lay telephone wire; it was Rene [Gagnon] who had come along with the replacement flag. Hansen had not been part of this action. [ 32 ]Block's mother, Belle, immediately composed a letter to her congressional representative Milton West . West, in turn, forwarded the letter to Marine Corps Commandant Alexander Vandegrift , who ordered an investigation. Both Bradley and Gagnon, upon being shown the evidence, agreed that it was probably Block and not Hansen. [ 33 ][ edit ] Legacy The U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial , located in Arlington , Virginia . The memorial on top of Suribachi. The flags from the first and second flag raisings are conserved in the National Museum of the Marine Corps . The second flag, pictured here, was damaged by the high winds at the peak of Suribachi. Like all American flags during World War II, it has 48 stars, since Alaska and Hawaii were not yet U.S. states .Rosenthal's photo won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Photography , the only photograph to win the prize in the same year it was taken.News pros were not the only ones bedazzled by the photo. Navy Captain T.B. Clark was on duty at Patuxent Air Station in Maryland that Saturday when it came humming off the wire. He studied it for a minute, and then thrust it under the gaze of Navy Petty Officer Felix de Weldon . De Weldon was an Austrian immigrant schooled in European painting and sculpture. De Weldon could not take his eyes off the photo. In its classic triangular lines he recognized similarities with the ancient statues he had studied. He reflexively reached for some sculptor's clay and tools. With the photograph before him he labored through the night. By dawn, he had replicated the six boys pushing a pole, raising a flag. [ 22 ]Starting in 1951, de Weldon was commissioned to design a memorial to the Marine Corps. It took de Weldon and hundreds of his assistants three years to finish it. The three survivors posed for de Weldon, who used their faces as a model. The other three who did not survive were sculpted from pictures. [ 34 ]Most people are unaware that the flag raising Rosenthal photographed was the second that day. This led to resentment from those Marines who took part in the nearly-forgotten first flag raising. Charles W. Lindberg, who participated in the first flag raising (and who was, until his death in June 2007, the last living person depicted in either flag raising) [ 35 ] complained that he "was called a liar and everything else. It was terrible." [ 36 ]The photograph is currently in the possession of Roy H. Williams, who bought it from the estate of John Faber, the official historian for the National Press Photographers Association , who had received it from Rosenthal. [ 37 ] Both flags (from the first and second flag raisings) are now located in the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico , Virginia . [ 38 ]Following the war, plagued with depression brought on by survivor guilt , Hayes became an alcoholic. His tragic life was memorialized in the folk song "The Ballad of Ira Hayes", written by Peter LaFarge and recorded by Johnny Cash in 1964. Bob Dylan later covered the song, as did Kinky Friedman . According to the song, after the war:Then Ira started drinkin' hard Jail was often his home They'd let him raise the flag and lower it Like you'd throw a dog a bone! He died drunk early one mornin' Alone in the land he fought to save Two inches of water in a lonely ditch Was a grave for Ira Hayes. [ 39 ]Likewise Rene Gagnon's last years were bitter and alcoholic before his death in 1979 at the age of 54.The plaque placed on Mount Suribachi by John Bradley's family, shaped like the state of Wisconsin . US postage stamp, 1945 issue, commemorating the Battle of Iwo Jima.Following the war, John Bradley was staunchly tight-lipped about his experiences, often deflecting questions by claiming he had forgotten. [ 40 ] During his 47-year marriage, he only talked about it with his wife Betty once, on their first date, and never again afterwards. [ 29 ] Within the family, it was considered a taboo subject. He gave exactly one interview, in 1985, at the urging of his wife, who had told him to do it for the sake of their grandchildren. [ 41 ] Following Bradley's death in 1994, his family went to Suribachi in 1997 and placed a plaque (made of Wisconsin granite and shaped like that state) on the spot where the flag raising took place. [ 42 ] At the time of his death, Bradley's son, James Bradley knew almost nothing of his father's wartime experiences. [ 29 ] As a catharsis , James Bradley spent four years interviewing the families of all the flag raisers, and published Flags of Our Fathers , a definitive book on the flag raising and its participants. [ 43 ] This book inspired a 2006 movie of the same name , directed by Clint Eastwood .[ edit ] In other mediaRosenthal's photograph has been reproduced in a number of other formats. It appeared on 3.5 million posters for the 7th war bond drive. [ 1 ]The Iwo Jima flag raising has been depicted in other films including 1949's Sands of Iwo Jima (in which the three surviving flag raisers make a cameo appearance at the end of the film) and 1961's The Outsider , a biography of Ira Hayes starring Tony Curtis .In July 1945, the United States Postal Service released a postage stamp bearing the image. [ 44 ] The US issued another stamp in 1995 showing the flag raising as part of its 10-stamp series marking the 50th anniversary of World War II. [ 45 ] In 2005, the United States Mint released a commemorative silver dollar bearing the image in this photograph.A similar photograph was taken by Thomas E. Franklin of the Bergen Record in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks . Officially known as "Ground Zero Spirit", the photograph is perhaps better known as " Raising the Flag at Ground Zero ", and shows three firefighters raising a U.S. flag in the ruins of the World Trade Center shortly after 5pm. [ 46 ] [ 47 ] Painter Jamie Wyeth also painted a related image titled "September 11th" based on this scene. It illustrates rescue workers raising a flag at Ground Zero. [ 48 ] Other iconic photos frequently compared include V-J day in Times Square , Into the Jaws of Death , Raising a flag over the Reichstag , and the raising of the Israeli Ink Flag .The highly recognizable image has been parodied several times. Anti-war activists in the 1960s altered the flag to bear a peace symbol , as well as several anti-establishment artworks. [ 49 ] Edward Kienholz 's Portable War Memorial in 1968 depicted faceless Marines raising the flag on an outdoor picnic table in a typical American consumerist environment of the 1960s. [ 50 ] [ 51 ] [ 52 ] It was parodied again during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 to depict the flag being planted into Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini 's behind. [ 49 ] The logo of the NetBSD operating system from 1994 to 2004 was a parody of the photograph, and an altered version appeared on the cover of Terry Pratchett 's novel Monstrous Regiment in 2003. Time magazine came under fire in 2008 after altering the image for use on its cover, replacing the American flag with a tree for an issue focused on global warming . [ 49 ] The British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association likewise came under criticism in 2010 for a poster depicting employees raising a flag marked "BASSA" at the edge of a runwayThe Marine Corps War Memorial (also called the Iwo Jima Memorial ) is a military memorial statue outside the walls of the Arlington National Cemetery and next to the Netherlands Carillon , in Arlington , Virginia , in the United States . The memorial is dedicated to all personnel of the United States Marine Corps who have died in the defense of their country since 1775. The design of the massive sculpture by Felix de Weldon was based on the iconic photo Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima , taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal .The memorial features the Marines and Sailor who raised the second flag over Iwo Jima: Sgt Michael Strank , Cpl Harlon Block , PFC Franklin Sousley , PFC Rene Gagnon , PFC Ira Hayes , PM2 John Bradley .Contents [ hide ] 1 History 2 Similar statues 3 Number of hands 4 Gallery 5 See also 6 References 7 External links[ edit ] History Identity of the six men depicted in the statue.In 1951, work commenced on creating a cast bronze memorial based on the photo, with the figures 32 feet (9.8 m) tall and the flagpole 60 feet (18 m) long. The granite base of the memorial bears two inscriptions:"In honor and memory of the men of the United States Marine Corps who have given their lives to their country since 10 November 1775" "Uncommon Valor Was a Common Virtue." This is a tribute by Admiral Chester Nimitz to the fighting men on Iwo Jima.The location and date of every major Marine Corps engagement up to the present are inscribed around the base of the memorial. The base is made entirely in the deep black diabase of Lönsboda , a small town and a quarry in the southernmost province of Sweden . [ 1 ]The memorial was officially dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on November 10, 1954, the 179th anniversary of the Marine Corps. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued a proclamation that a Flag of the United States should fly from the memorial 24 hours a day, one of the few official sites where this is required.The Marines of Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. use the memorial as a centerpiece of the weekly Sunset Parade featuring the Drum and Bugle Corps and by the Silent Drill Platoon .[ edit ] Similar statues The National Iwo Jima Memorial in central ConnecticutThe original plaster working model of the statue currently stands in Harlingen, Texas at the Marine Military Academy , a private Marine Corps-inspired youth military academy. The Academy is also the final resting place of Corporal Block, who was killed in action on Iwo Jima.The National Iwo Jima Memorial in Newington, Connecticut uses a similar design and is dedicated to the 6,821 US servicemen who died in the battle.There are also scaled-down replicas at three Marine bases: just outside the front gate of Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia , adjacent to the parade deck at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina , and just inside the main gate at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kāne'ohe Bay , Hawaii .Another statue is located at Fall River Bicentennial Park in Massachusetts .A version of the memorial dedicated in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of World War II stands in Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania .[ edit ] Number of handsThere are twelve hands in the memorial corresponding to the six figures depicted. A persistent rumor has attributed the existence of a thirteenth hand to the sculptor's wish to symbolize either all the other Marines who made the flag raising possible, or the hand of God. When informed of the rumor, de Weldon exclaimed, "Thirteen hands. Who needed 13 hands? Twelve were enough." [ 2 ]Felix Weihs de Weldon (April 12, 1907-June 3, 2003) was an American sculptor . His most famous piece is the Marine Corps War Memorial of five U.S. Marines and one sailor raising the flag of the United States on Iwo Jima during World War Two .Contents [ hide ] 1 Biography 2 Work 3 Images 4 Partial list of Public Sculpture 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 External links[ edit ] BiographyFelix De Weldon was born in Vienna , Austria-Hungary on 12 April 1907. He received his early education at St. Egichins Grammar School. In 1925, he earned an A.B. from Marchetti College, [ 1 ] a preparatory college. [ 2 ] From the University of Vienna 's Academy of Creative Arts and School of Architecture, he earned his M.A. and M.S. degrees in 1927 and his PhD in 1929.De Weldon first received notice as a sculptor at the age of 17, with his statue of Austrian educator and diplomat Professor Ludo Hartman. [ 1 ] In the 1920s, he joined artist 's communes in France , Italy and Spain . De Weldon eventually moved to London , where he gained a number of commissions, among them a portrait sculpture of George V .A consequential trip to Canada to sculpt Prime Minister Mackenzie King brought De Weldon to North America , and he decided to settle in the United States. De Weldon enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II. [ 2 ] He became an United States citizen in 1945. [ 1 ] In 1950, President Truman appointed Felix de Weldon to the United States Fine Arts Commission. In 1956, he was re-appointed by President Eisenhower, and again in 1961 by President Kennedy. In 1959 he was knighted for his service to the British Crown becoming "Sir Felix de Weldon."In 1951, De Weldon acquired the historic Beacon Rock estate in Newport, Rhode Island, where he lived until 1996, when he lost the property and most of his assets to financial hardship.Felix de Weldon died on June 3, 2003.[ edit ] Work Bronze of Senator Bob Bartlett in the National Statuary HallApproximately 1,200 de Weldon sculptures are located in seven continents. (A de Weldon monument of Richard Byrd is in McMurdo Sound , in Antarctica ).At the conclusion of the war, the Congress of the United States commissioned de Weldon to construct the statue for the Iwo Jima memorial in the realist tradition, based upon the famous photograph of Joe Rosenthal , of the Associated Press agency, taken on 23 February 1945. De Weldon made sculptures from life of three of the six men raising the flag. The other three, who had died in action later, were sculpted from photographs. De Weldon took nine years to make the memorial, and was assisted by hundreds of other sculptors. The result is the 100-ton bronze statue which is on display in Arlington, Virginia.De Weldon also contributed in creating Malaysia 's Tugu Negara (National Monument) when the country's first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman saw the USMC War Memorial statue in his visit to America in October 1960 and personally met him for favour to design the monument. De Weldon was later conferred with the title Tan Sri , the Malaysian equivalent of a high-ranking knighthood .Dr. de Weldon died on June 2, 2003 at age 96 in Woodstock, Virginia . De Weldon is survived by his wife, Joyce Swetland de Weldon, of Warwick, Rhode Island and two sons Byron & Daniel DeWeldon . Daniel is collaborating with Allen Nalasco on a biopic of his father's life titled "DeWeldon - The Man Behind The Monuments". Daniel will play the part of Felix during the height of his career. read more

Items in the Price Guide are obtained exclusively from licensors and partners solely for our members’ research needs.

Flag item for content or copyright

If this item contains incorrect or inappropriate information please contact us here to flag it for review.

If you are the originator/copyright holder of this photo/item and would prefer it be excluded from our community, contact us here for removal.