THE MOST REPRODUCED PIC IN HISTORY

The above rah-rah World War II propaganda tune was "There'll Be A Little Smokio in Tokio" by Don Baker and it can be downloaded HERE.

On this weekend in 1945 at the bloody Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines (from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Division) took the crest of Mount Suribachi, the island's highest peak and raised the American flag.

Marine photographer Louis Lowery was with them and recorded the event. Soldiers fighting for control of Suribachi's slopes cheered the raising of the flag, and several hours later more Marines headed up to the crest with a larger flag. Joe Rosenthal, a photographer with the Associated Press, met them along the way and recorded the raising of the second flag along with a Marine still photographer and a motion-picture cameraman.

Rosenthal took three photographs atop Suribachi. The first, which showed five Marines and one Navy corpsman struggling to hoist the heavy flag pole, became the most reproduced photograph in history and won him a Pulitzer Prize.

Regarding Rosenthal's other two photos: The second was similar to the first but less affecting and the third was a group picture of 18 soldiers smiling and waving for the camera. Many of these men, including three of the six soldiers seen raising the flag in the famous Rosenthal photo, were killed before the conclusion of the Battle for Iwo Jima in late March.

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