Well said, John!
keith whaley
"John A. Lind" wrote:
>
> At 03:14 12/12/02, John Hudson wrote:
>
> >As I said originally the "famous" photo is a staged event! The admiral
> >didn't like what he saw first so he arranged for another photo shoot and the
> >second time around he got what he liked.
>
> Not true. You misinterpreted what I wrote and I don't believe you have an
> understanding of military combat operations. The first flag was raised on
> orders from a ground commmander on the island. The fighting was quite
> intense and the U.S. invasion force had by no means gained the upper hand
> yet. Indeed, it was very early on in the battle for the island. Its sole
> purpose was to inspire the U.S. ground forces and demoralize the Japanese
> defenders.
>
> When the admiral was informed by his staff a U.S. flag had been raised, he
> went to look for himself from the watch post on his flagship. The flag was
> a small "storm" or "battle" flag. It was then that he ordered a larger
> flag raised, and it was done within a matter of hours. The ***sole***
> purpose of raising a larger one was _so_it_could_be_seen_better_ by ground
> forces on the island, and by those aboard ship offshore providing fire
> support.
>
> Those that raised the second flag were exposed to fire nearly the entire
> time they went up to replace the first one. IIRC, there was one quick shot
> of the men who raised the second flag standing around the base of the pole
> after it was raised. Then everyone got the hell off the top of the
> mountain. They were out in the open and most certainly a target of very
> easy opportunity. The battle for the island was still, by no means,
> decided and raged on for days after the flags were raised.
>
> The second flag raising had absolutely ***nothing*** to do with making
> photographs or film footage. At that point in the battle, it would have
> outraged those sent to do it. It had ***everything*** to do with a very
> legitimate goal directed at winning the battle for the island: inspiring
> one's men and demoralizing the enemy. Those that raised both flags
> understood this fully and the effect it would have, not for the war effort
> in general, but there, that day, at that time, and on that island. Battles
> can be decided by very simple things that have deep meaning.
>
> -- John
>
> > This in contrast to those famous
> >photos from a later era which were taken at the spur of the moment and were
> >not re-run to satisfy the whims of the local admiral; coming to mind are
> >the shots of the south Vietnamese policeman shooting the vietcong person in
> >the head with a pistol at point blank range, the young girl running naked
> >down the road after a naphalm bomb attack, and the one of the girl haunched
> >over an injured person after the National Guard turkey shoot at Kent State
> >University. In contrast to these three images, the Iwo Jimo flag raising
> >photo is most certainly a re-run on the original. If it is not, perhaps that
> >terrified young girl could have been asked to do a second run down the road
> >or for the policemen to have rounded up another miscreant for another pot
> >shot to improve the composition of the photo.
> >
> >jh
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