Cycnos | Numéros | Volume 21.2 - Les États-Unis et la guerre. Les États-Unis en guerre

Résumé :

On the morning of February 19, 1945, two Marine Divisions invaded the island of Iwo Jima after a naval bombardment. On February 21, the capture of Mount Suribachi was ordered. Two days later, a small party of Marines started the climb up the rough terrain to the top. At about 10:30 a.m., men on ships and all over the island were thrilled by the sight of a small American flag flying from atop Mount Suribachi. In the afternoon, a larger flag was raised by five Marines and a Navy hospital corpsman. News-photographer Joe Rosenthal caught the afternoon flag raising in an inspiring Pulitzer Prize winning photograph. When the picture was later released, sculptor Felix W. de Weldon was so moved by the scene that he constructed a scale model and then a life-size model of it. This was later to become the huge bronze Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington, D.C., with 32-foot-high figures, dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on November 10, 1954. The event was re-enacted in the movie Sands of Iwo Jima, starring John Wayne, which became an instant hit for Republic Pictures.

Mots-clés : Iwo Jima, Joe Rosenthal, guerre du Pacifique, U.S. Marines, Sands of Iwo Jima

Date de publication : 2006-10-13