Monday, April 29, 2013

The Flag Of Iwo Jima

Marines raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Japan, Feb. 23, 1945. Alan Wood, who died April 18, was the Navy communications officer who supplied the American flag. (AP PHOTO/Joe Rosenthal)

Alan Wood, US Veteran Who Provided Flag For Iwo Jima Picture, Dies Aged 90 -- The Guardian

Wood, who was a 22-year-old navy officer in second world war, credited with finding the flag for the iconic photograph

Alan Wood, a second world war veteran credited with providing the flag in the famous flag-raising on Iwo Jima, has died. He was 90.

Wood died 18 April of natural causes at his Sierra Madre home, his son Steven Wood said on Saturday.

Wood was a 22-year-old US navy officer in charge of communications on a landing ship on Iwo Jima's shores 23 February 1945 when a marine asked him for the biggest flag that he could find.

After five days of fighting to capture the Japanese-held island, US forces had managed to scale Mount Suribachi to hoist an American flag.

Wood happened to have a 37-square-foot flag he had found months before in a Pearl Harbor navy depot.

Five Marines and a navy corpsman later raised that flag in a stirring moment captured by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal.

Steven Wood says his father was always humbled by his small role in the historic moment.

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Update #1: Iwo Jima World War II flag provider passes -- CBS/AP
Update #2: Alan Wood dies, leaves legacy of Iwo Jima flag -- Christian Science Monitor

My Comment: It is a proud legacy to be remembered for.

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