Today (February 23rd) is the 70th anniversary of the flag raising on Iwo Jima, the date one of the most iconic photographs of World War II was taken. More from MTSU Professor of Journalism Dr. Larry Burris...

But there is also something of a back-story to the Pulitzer Prize winning photograph by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal.

What many people don't realize is that the Rosenthal picture is of the second flag raising on Mount Suribachi. The first occurred a few hours earlier, and was captured by a Marine Corps photographer. But a Navy commander said the flag was too small, so a few hours later five Marines and a Navy corpsman took a much larger flag to the top. That is the image that made the front page of The New York Times and was later the model for postage stamps and a famous bronze statue, the Marine Corps War Memorial, in Washington, D.C.

There has even been a Lego sculpture recreating the photograph, using more than 100-thousand Lego blocks.
But Rosenthal had shot several photographs that day, and one of them was of a group of some 20 Marines standing around the flag. He then sent the film off to Guam to be processed while another reporter prepared to write the day's story. Unknown to Rosenthal, the reporter picked the iconic flag raising picture, but when he asked the photographer if the picture was staged, Rosenthal said "yes," thinking he was referring to the group photograph.
After the photograph was published Time-Life radio, without checking the facts, reported the scene been staged. Although the story was retracted a few days later, the rumor was planted, and to this day refuses to die.
Fortunately a motion picture shot at the time clearly shows Rosenthal staging the group photograph, but not the flag raising.

From a historical standpoint, it really talks both flag raising photographs to tell the story of Iwo Jima. Together they do what all great photographs do: tell the story of a moment in time that defines an entire event.
I'm Larry Burriss.