Posted on 02/08/2013 12:17:04 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
(AP) – A long-forgotten piece of America's military history is going up for sale. The original smaller statue of the iconic raising of the US flag at Iwo Jima in 1945 is expected to fetch up to $1.8 million later this month at a New York auction dedicated to World War II artifacts. That such a statue even exists is news to all but the most ardent history buffs. Most Americans are familiar with Felix de Weldon's 1954 bronze version, the 32-foot-tall Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va. Less well-known is the 12-and-1/2-foot-tall statue created soon after the event.
De Weldon, a young sculptor serving as an artist in the Navy, became instantly transfixed by an Associated Press image of the Feb. 19, 1945, flag planting, which would earn photographer Joe Rosenthal a Pulitzer Prize and resonate around the world. He modeled a wax sculpture of the photo to present to the chiefs of staff, and Congress soon called for construction of a large statue. Completed in just three months, de Weldon's cast stone monument was erected in Washington, DC, in front of what is now the Federal Reserve Building on Constitution Avenue, and remained there until 1947. The government authorized a foundation for de Weldon to build a much larger flag-raising statue in bronze—the 32-foot Iwo Jima monument in Arlington—and the original was largely forgotten. Click for its full story.
(Excerpt) Read more at newser.com ...
Now Obama’s gonna wonder how much he can get for the one in Arlington.
I can remember seeing a copy of this statue by the entrance of the veterans hospital in St. Albans or Jamaica,Queens, NYC, back in the 1950s.
I don’t know if it’s still there or not—or maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, though I don’t think so.
It’s the original statue of the fake flag raising.
There was no photo of the raising of a smaller flag on Iwo Jima when it was conquered. The photo and statues are of the raising of a larger flag to replace the original. That’s what is really forgotten.
I think your right. And if I remember, the famous photo was taken after the Marines had already raised the flag. The photographer saw what they did - liked it - and had them do it again so’s he could take a picture.
I guess I could wiki this and see.
Hopefully it will be purchased & loaned to the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia.
no, he did not stage it
they raised the second flag because the first one was too small
and Rosenthal and Genaust were there for the second one
Genaust was the first photographer of the first flag and the men who put it up
Genaust was the first photographer of the first flag and the men who put it up
= = = = = = = = = = = = = =
History AND Lou Lowery told me Lowery was the ‘First Photographer’.
He was a Marine photographer/correspondent.
Sgt Genaust had the first motion pictures of it - and probably both.
They should buy it themselves, if they want it.
yes, you’re right, I got the names mixed up :)
I always thought Sgt. Stryker had the flag raised.
I figured that....
Why the answer was ‘informative’, not sardonic or sarcastic...<: <:
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