The most famous photograph taken during World War II is that of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima in February 1945. The image has become an icon recognized around the world. The Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington consists of a giant sculpture modeled after the photo. Indeed, the picture of the American flag being raised by six men in fatigues has come to symbolize the Marine Corps and its contribution to the nation.
Many readers know that it was Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal whose camera froze that instant in time. What few know is that Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal also played an important part—both directly and indirectly—in the creation of that image. The late Rear Admiral Harold B. “Min” Miller told part of the story in an oral history interview nearly 20 years ago with the Naval Institute’s John Mason.
Miller was a 1924 Naval Academy graduate, aviator, and author. In the 1930s, he served as a fighter pilot in two of the Navy’s two largest dirigibles, the Akron and the Macon. In the period before World War II, he also flew carrier fighters, patrol planes, and battleship/cruiser floatplanes. In addition to his tours of duty as a flier, he wrote books and articles about U.S. naval aviation.
In the early part of World War II, he used his journalistic skills while stationed in the Bureau of Aeronautics training division. His section churned out materials for the benefit of the tens of thousands of young men who were being transformed from civilians into naval aviators. Miller helped originate the publication that became Naval Aviation News.
In the summer of 1944, James Forrestal ordered Miller to report to him in Washington. With the end of the war approaching, the new Secretary knew that the victory in the Pacific was being won by the Navy. He was concerned, though, that the public didn’t have sufficient awareness or understanding of the Navy’s role. He knew of Miller’s skills and his aggressiveness, so the Secretary dispatched him to become the Pacific Fleet public information officer under Admiral Chester Nimitz.
Miller went at the new job with considerable energy, dispatching enlisted journalists to various ships and other units in order to generate stories for the newspapers, newsreels, and radio stations back home. He also arranged to get dozens of reporters and photographers to the next operation, the invasion of Iwo Jima, and set up facilities on Guam for the rapid processing of film and transmission of pictures to the United States.
The rest of the story comes from a recent book, Flags of Our Fathers (New York: Bantam Books, 2000). The author is James Bradley, whose father, Navy Pharmacist’s Mate John Bradley, was one of the six men who raised the flag on 23 February 1945 atop Mount Suribachi.
James Forrestal was there as well. He wanted a firsthand look at Iwo Jima, so he was in a landing craft headed for shore when a group of Marines raised the first flag on Suribachi. The Secretary turned to Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith and declared, “Holland, the raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years.” Forrestal also decided that he wanted the flag as a souvenir of the occasion. Lieutenant Colonel Chandler Johnson, however, would have none of it. As commander of the Marine battalion whose men had raised the flag, he concluded that it belonged to the battalion. He sent a lieutenant to retrieve that first flag and to arrange for a replacement to be raised in its place. And so it was that five Marines and a sailor of Captain Dave Severance’s Easy Company raised a second flag—a larger one—and made history when Rosenthal clicked the shutter of his Speed Graphic camera for l/400th of a second. (The second flag remained atop the piece of pipe and disintegrated within three weeks in the winds of Iwo Jima.)
A Navy plane flew Rosenthal’s film to Guam, where Min Miller’s people processed it. He said in his oral history, “We knew we had a gem, no question about that.” The only question was whether it was genuine or staged. Miller had confidence in Rosenthal, so he released the picture. As Bradley reports in his book, John Bodkin, the AP photo editor in Guam, picked up a print of the photo and was instantly struck by its power. He exclaimed, “Here’s one for all time!" then sent the picture by radio- photo to AP headquarters in New York. On Sunday, February 25, the picture appeared in newspapers throughout the country and created a sensation. Time has not diminished the power of that image or the heroism of the Marines whose sacrifices made it possible.