Iwo Jima - Flag Raising

One of the most reproduced photos of the twentieth century was shot at Iwo Jima. Half of the men in the picture later died in the battle.

This video is a clip from the documentary, Flags Over Iwo Jima. It includes interviews with Marines who were fighting on the island when the flag was raised.

The official web site, about this documentary, provides us with this background about the film:

For the first time, the whole story behind the famous flag-raising atop Mt. Suribachi during the bloody battle of Iwo Jima is told. Young filmmaker Dustin Spence goes on a journey of discovery to unravel all the facts. Along the way, he discovers that the lessons of the flag-raising resonate as loudly with today’s younger generation as they did with the American public more than six decades ago.

With interviews from veterans who were there, as well as recently discovered photographs of the event, you’re taken back to the beginning of the first flag raising in February 1945. Then you witness the events surrounding the second flag-raising, the one pictured in today’s history books, actually organized immediately after the first.