AN ICONIC PHOTO; A NAVY HONOR?
Call rises to name a ship after the photographer who took Iwo Jima photo that goosed war bond sales
The savage fighting on Iwo Jima had been raging for four days when Joe Rosenthal, an Associated Press correspondent, arrived on scene. Deadly ordnance filled the sky but never got close enough to endanger the intrepid photographer.
“He said being in the shell fire was like standing in the rain and not getting wet,” said Tom Graves, a professional photographer who got to know Rosenthal decades after World War II.
Armed only with a camera, Rosenthal headed for the high point on the island — 528-foot Mount Suribachi. There he found Marines preparing to raise an American flag. As it went up, Rosenthal tripped his shutter. He had no idea he had produced an image that has been credited with defining America’s soul, an image so powerful it inspired a war-weary country and helped generate sales of $26 billion in war bonds — the biggest haul of any of the seven U.S. war loan drives during World War II.
Ten weeks after Rosenthal’s shot seen ‘round the world, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph. “Technically too late for a 1944 prize,” read an AP story, “but exception was made for this distinguished example.”
Less than four months later, the war was over. Now the late Rosenthal’s friends and brothers in arms, a dwindling crew, are attempting to persuade the secretary of the
“Even though it’s a long shot, it’s worth it if people learn the history of what his photo actually accomplished.”
— Tom Graves, professional photographer who became acquainted with Associated Press correspondent Joe Rosenthal decades after World War II
Navy to name a ship in his honor.
“It’s a natural idea,” said Graves, 63, a San Francisco resident. He belongs to the San Francisco chapter of the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association, named for Rosenthal, a Bay Area resident for most of his life. Graves is an associate member, having never served (though his father and four uncles saw action in World War II).
The concept occurred to him a little more than a year ago when then-Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus indicated a willingness to consider nontraditional names for naval vessels. Hence the USS Harvey Milk, officially named in August 2016. The ship was one of a halfdozen to be named for civil rights activists.
The Combat Correspondents group has an online petition, www.USSJoe.org, which has helped collect more than 2,000 signatures. The plan is to present the signatures to current Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer on Monday, the 106th anniversary of Rosenthal’s birth.
The movement has a fan in Dale Cook, president of the San Francisco chapter of the Combat Correspondents. Cook, 90, of Brentwood, also happens to be a former Marine who was on Iwo Jima with Rosenthal. Cook was 18, a Marine for less than a year, when he was thrown into the bloody maelstrom.
“Somebody in my platoon noticed the flag and called our attention to it,” he said. “It was on top of Mount Suribachi. I remember one of my sergeants saying, ‘That’ll keep them from shooting down on us.’ Guys around us were being killed, but you were happy it was there.”
Rosenthal, Graves said, shot the photo on Feb. 23, a Friday. The film was processed in Guam.
“The story goes: As soon as the technician saw the
“I was aboard ship. It was shown to me. I thought, my God, this thing is going to be known all over the world. It gave you a feeling. It shows the American flag and what it stood for and how hard we fought for it.” — Enrico Cinquini, former Marine and World War II veteran
film coming out of the developer in negative form, he knew it was something special,” Graves said. “The photo people on Guam put it on the wire. The photo went to San Francisco and then went to the AP in New York City. It ran that Sunday on the front page in more than 200 papers in the United States.”
Enrico Cinquini, 93, of Oakley, a Marine fighting his way through the Pacific theater in 1945, remembers seeing the photo for the first time.
“I was aboard ship,” Cinquini said. “It was shown to me. I thought, my God, this thing is going to be known all over the world. And that did happen. It gave you a feeling. It shows the American flag and what it stood for and how hard we fought for it.”
It would be years before Cinquini realized he had met the Pulitzer Prize photographer responsible for that stirring image. It was in the rain on Peleliu when Cinquini and another Marine saw someone coming toward them.
“Down the trail comes this guy hunched over saying, ‘Is anyone here from San Francisco?’” Cinquini said. “We said, ‘We’re from San Francisco.’ He says, ‘Do you guys have any souvenirs?’ We told him we had just knocked out a pillbox and got a (Japanese) flag. He said, ‘I’d like to get a picture of you with it.’”
Cinquini said Rosenthal got the shot, then told the two Marines, “I’m getting out of here. All you guys are getting killed.” The picture appeared in the paper.
Many years later, Cinquini noticed that Rosenthal was getting an award. He called the San Francisco Chronicle, where Rosenthal worked, and asked the photographer if he remembered their encounter on Peleliu. Rosenthal did. He even looked through his archives and found the negative, printed a photo, signed it and sent it to Cinquini.
“I would sign that (petition) without hesitation,” Cinquini said.
The value of the Iwo Jima shot is incalculable. Graves points out that the Allies’ race to Berlin ran into a German buzzsaw in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. The United States had been waging war on two fronts for three years.
“A month later, here’s this incredible picture,” said Graves, who has been to Iwo Jima and stood at the spot where Rosenthal took his photo. “Nothing has survived 72 years with the same significance and ability to capture a moment in our nation’s history. It means a lot to the Marine Corps. It’s the most reproduced and recognizable photo in the world.”
Graves is as real as he is passionate about the petition. “It’s a long shot,” he said of the odds of having a ship named for Rosenthal. “But even though it’s a long shot, it’s worth it if people learn the history of what his photo actually accomplished.”