After the moment:
Posted on 02/23/2012 12:29:37 PM PST by rottndog
Sixty-seven years ago today, photographer Joe Rosenthal trekked up a mountain alongside U.S. Marines and snapped this indelible scene on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. Oddly enough, he had been rejected from military service for his poor eyesight, but today his vision is iconic.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
NPR I know...but at least the made the effort to mark the occasion. CWCID
Fully expected NPR to brand the Americans who fought there as war criminals.
THAT is what I’ve come to expect from NPR/PBS.
That island should have NEVER been given back to the Japanese. We paid way too high a price for it.
A Guy I worked with, BAR Man, second wave, seven minutes on the Beach. Happy ending met his wife, a nurse, in the hospital.
Can we stop glorifying Joe Rosenthal? All he did was take a picture. The Marines took the island!
I never paid much attention to who took the picture, and frankly I don’t care. It’s the substance contained therein that matters to me, the big picture so to speak. I imagine it’s the same for most....IMHO.
The reason I posted this was in fact to honor those Marines...by remembering what they achieved.
You’re right. After falling into the water while transferring from the command ship to the LCVP, Rosenthal should have said the hell with it and gone back to the boat where he would have been safe and comfortable instead of walking up Suribachi and risking his life to record history. Same thing for risking his ass on New Guinea, Hollandia, Guam, Peleliu and Angaur.
As most vets, he never talked about it much, but my uncle was on Iwo Jima the day after the flag raising. Worked in air traffic control and was setting things up and then getting planes in and out. He still is around in good health and travels. But their number are dwindling. I’m glad we have some of these iconic images to remember them and their sacrifices.
Me: “Wow - you were on Iwo Jima the day after that?!”
Uncle: “Oh, it was pretty much done by then. Although for a few more days [weeks?] they would take potshots at us, or take potshots at a plane.”
Sixty Seven years ago today
Iwo Jima taught the band to pray,
They’ve been going in and out of style,
But they’re guaranteed to raise a smile,
They’ve been in and out of memory
But they died so we’d be free
So may I introduce to you,
The act you’ve known for all these years,
The Iwo Jima Lonely Hearts Club Band.
We’re The Iwo Jima Lonely Hearts Club Band,
We hope you will enjoy the show,
Iwo Jima Lonely Hearts Club Band,
Sit back and let the evening go.
Iwo Jima Lonely
Iwo Jima Lonely
Iwo Jima Lonely Hearts Club Band
It’s wonderful to be here,
It’s certainly a thrill
You’re such a lovely audience,
We’d like to take you home with us, we’d love to take you home.
I don’t really want to stop the show,
But I thought you might like to know,
That the singer’s going to sing a song
And he wants you all to sing along,
So let me introduce to you
The one and only Shedding Tears
And the Iwo Jima Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Nice - I’ll have to send that off to him.
Rosenthal fell into the water because he was a myopic klutz. For that he should be worshipped????
Rosenthal should have said the hell with it and gone back to the boat where he would have been safe and comfortable instead of walking up Suribachi and risking his life to record history.
He WALKED up the mountain; the Marines FOUGHT their way up that mountain. THEY are the heros, not some guy with a camera who happened to stumble upon them in their glory moment.
I have no objection to people celebrating the Rosenthal photo as a symbol of what those great men accomplished. But I chafe at seeing the scrivener elevated over the subject. And to Rosenthal's credit, he was always humble about his accomplishment and made sure the glory was directed where it belonged.
It is only in these latter days that we glorify the messenger rather than the message.
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks rottndog. |
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