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Feb 23 marked the 77th anniversary of the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima, a moment that was immortalized not only in Joe Rosenthal's photo, but also years later in the monument erected in Arlington Cemetery.
In fact most Americans are familiar with the 32-foot-tall Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington.
But less well-known is the 12 1/2-foot-tall statue created soon after the event.
Felix De Weldon (1907/2003), a young sculptor serving as an artist in the Navy, became instantly transfixed by an Associated Press image of the Feb. 19, 1945, flag planting, which would earn photographer Joe Rosenthal a Pulitzer Prize and resonate around the world.
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.
(The wax model)
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 about 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.
The story of how military historian and collector Rodney Hilton Brown came to own the statue is incredible: In researching material for a biography on de Weldon, Brown learned about the old studio and amazingly found the monument still covered by the tarp. He purchased the 5-ton monument from de Weldon in 1990, paying with “a Stradivarius violin, a 1920s solid silver Newport yachting trophy and a lot of money.” Brown unveiled the restored version of the statue in 1995 on the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima.
Rodney Hilton Brown speaks at Kids week Honoring the 60th Anniversary of Iwo Jima at Intrepid Sea, Air, Space Museum on February 23, 2004 in NYC.
It remained on the aircraft carrier until 2007 and was then moved to a storage facility in Connecticut. And -finally- in 2013 it was put up for auction.
In fact most Americans are familiar with the 32-foot-tall Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington.
But less well-known is the 12 1/2-foot-tall statue created soon after the event.
Felix De Weldon (1907/2003), a young sculptor serving as an artist in the Navy, became instantly transfixed by an Associated Press image of the Feb. 19, 1945, flag planting, which would earn photographer Joe Rosenthal a Pulitzer Prize and resonate around the world.
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.
(The wax model)
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 about 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.
The story of how military historian and collector Rodney Hilton Brown came to own the statue is incredible: In researching material for a biography on de Weldon, Brown learned about the old studio and amazingly found the monument still covered by the tarp. He purchased the 5-ton monument from de Weldon in 1990, paying with “a Stradivarius violin, a 1920s solid silver Newport yachting trophy and a lot of money.” Brown unveiled the restored version of the statue in 1995 on the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima.
Rodney Hilton Brown speaks at Kids week Honoring the 60th Anniversary of Iwo Jima at Intrepid Sea, Air, Space Museum on February 23, 2004 in NYC.
It remained on the aircraft carrier until 2007 and was then moved to a storage facility in Connecticut. And -finally- in 2013 it was put up for auction.
