There is a documentary on the Iwo Jima photo that I saw relatively
recently on TV. It included a revisiting of the island by participants
and interviews with the photographer(s?) involved. As I recall, it told
essentially the story John tells with lots of visuals.It includes both
the movie and the series of stills.
Moose
The True Iwo Jima Story:
The U.S. Marine Corps has the orignal B&W negative of the Iwo Jima
photograph, along with other stills made at the time from different
angles, and a reel of color motion picture film, all of the same flag
raising. It was, however, the SECOND flag raising on the summit.
There are also still photographs of the first flag raising. When the
admiral in command of the landing saw the small battle flag, he
ordered it replaced with a larger one so it could be seen better.
The famous photograph is of the second one. The motion picture film
and other stills show clearly that it was not staged or faked. The
photographer's positioning and timing were impeccable. The Navy
released the now famous photograph after reviewing the stills done of
both flag raisings. One look through the Navy's archive leaves little
doubt as to why this particular photograph was chosen for release. It
stands out among all of them. All the others look bland by
comparison. BTW, the photographer of the second raising ended up
working for the photographer of the first flag raising after the war.
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