Original Iwo Jima Monument

Started by TheCommandTent, February 09, 2013, 12:38:15 AM

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TheCommandTent

The one currently in Arlington is not the original monument.  The article was a very interesting read as I never knew about this.

QuoteNEW YORK (AP) — A long-forgotten piece of America's military history is going up for sale.

The original smaller statue of the iconic raising of the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima in 1945 is expected to fetch up to $1.8 million later this month at a New York auction dedicated to World War II artifacts.

That such a statue even exists is news to all but the most ardent history buffs.

Most Americans are familiar with the 32-foot-tall Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va. Felix de Weldon's 1954 bronze depicts five Marines and a Navy Corpsman raising the flag on Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi as Allied forces struggled to capture the Japanese-held island.

Less well-known is the 12 1/2-foot-tall statue created soon after the event.

De Weldon, a young sculptor serving as an artist in the Navy, became instantly transfixed by an Associated Press image of the Feb. 23, 1945, flag planting, which would earn photographer Joe Rosenthal a Pulitzer Prize and resonate around the world.

"It's an incredibly iconic image of bravery," says Marci Reaven, vice president of historic exhibits at the New-York Historical Society. "It immediately captured Americans' imaginations, their hopes for victory and their fears at a difficult time."

De Weldon canceled a weekend leave to model a wax sculpture of the photo to present to the chiefs of staff. Congress soon called for construction of a large statue. But burdened with war debt, it could provide no financing and de Weldon agreed to fund it himself.

Completed in just three months, de Weldon's cast stone monument was erected in Washington, D.C., in front of what is now the Federal Reserve Building on Constitution Avenue. It remained there until it was removed in 1947 to make room for a new building.

At around the same time, the government authorized a foundation for de Weldon to build a much larger flag-raising statue in bronze — the 32-foot Iwo Jima monument in Arlington.

The 12 1/2-foot version was returned to de Weldon, who covered it with a tarp behind his studio. It remained largely forgotten for more than four decades.

http://news.yahoo.com/original-iwo-jima-monument-coming-nyc-auction-080325848.html

"No wants, no needs, we weren't meant for that, none of us.  Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is."

LongBlade

Didn't know that. Thanks! Wish I had a couple mil to buy it.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

TheCommandTent

Quote from: LongBlade on February 09, 2013, 11:55:42 AM
Didn't know that. Thanks! Wish I had a couple mil to buy it.

You and me both.
"No wants, no needs, we weren't meant for that, none of us.  Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is."