RALLYING ROUND THE FLAG
I think it is totally ridiculous to make a big thing of the fact the famous Rosenthal picture of the flag-raising on Mt. Suribachi was the second flag-raising!
Nothing was staged; there was a distinct purpose in putting up a second much bigger flag: To raise all the American spirits and lower the Japanese spirits in the midst of one of modern wars most savage battles.
If the second group of flag-raisers put up the flag on “a Pacific summit with all the tension and drama of a light bulb being changed,” how come three of them were killed?
Turan writes that the three survivors, “who knew full well how little they had done . . . had difficulty adjusting to being called heroes.” This is common for any survivors of combat in which many of their comrades are killed.
The picture has been, and should always remain, a symbol, with almost mystical qualities, of freedom.
GREG HILL
HUNTINGTON BEACH
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