RALLYING ROUND THE FLAG

In his Sept. 8 review of “Iwo Jima,” the Karal Ann Marling and John Wetenhall book concerning the famous Rosenthal Iwo Jima flag-raising photograph, Kenneth Turan seems interested in promoting a somewhat conspiratorial world view rather than objectively studying the photograph and its admittedly tremendous impact.

To Mr. Turan, “remarkable evenhandedness and intelligence” is clearly whatever opinion is most similar to his own, and that appears to be that the second flag-raising at Iwo Jima was a publicity stunt which government agents attempted to pass off as the real thing. The truth is that there was no cover-up; there is no conspiracy surrounding the Rosenthal photo. The fact that the photograph was not of the original flag-raising is, and always has been, widely known.

Mr. Turan appears to agree with the authors, who choose to distort the meaning of the Rosenthal photo by suggesting that it was a mere tool for warmongering publicists, and implying that the Marines and sailor who raised the second flag were imposters “who knew full well how little they had really done.” However, as Admiral Nimitz stated regarding the Marines on Iwo Jima, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.”

All of the Marines and sailors on Iwo Jima were heroes; the reason that the Rosenthal photo evokes such strong emotion is that the men pictured were but ordinary men who answered when their country called, ordinary men who performed extraordinary deeds. No one ever claimed that the six men in the photo were greater than the others on Iwo Jima, just that they were representatives of the over 70,000 heroes of Iwo Jima. In fact, three of the five Marines in the photo were killed in later battles on Iwo Jima and the Navy corpsman was wounded.

The authors and Mr. Turan know little of the ground upon which they tread. Ira Hayes, who Mr. Turan insultingly states “drowned in his own vomit,” was a hero whose memory is honored by the Marines. . . .

V. JAMES KORDAHL

AGOURA