Marine Corps War Memorial
Marine Corps War Memorial | |
---|---|
Arlington, Virginia | |
Designed by | Felix de Weldon (sculptor) Horace W. Peaslee (architect) |
Uncommon Valor Was A Common Virtue In Honor And Memory Of The Men Of The United States Marine Corps Who Have Given Their Lives To Their Country Since 10 November 1775 |
The United States Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) is a national memorial located in Arlington County, Virginia. The memorial was dedicated in 1954 to all Marines who have given their lives in defense of the United States since 1775.[1] It is located in Arlington Ridge Park within the George Washington Memorial Parkway,[2] near the Ord-Weitzel Gate to Arlington National Cemetery and the Netherlands Carillon. The memorial was turned over to the National Park Service in 1955.
The
History
The centerpiece of the memorial is a colossal sculpture group depicting the six Marines who raised the second and largest of two U.S. flags that were both raised atop Mount Suribachi located at the south end of Iwo Jima, on February 23, 1945. The first flag flown over the mountain was regarded to be too small to be seen by all the American troops on the other side of it where most of the fighting would take place, so it was replaced by a larger flag.
The flag-raising also was recorded by Marine Sergeant Bill Genaust, a combat motion picture cameraman. He filmed the event in color while standing beside Rosenthal. Genaust's footage established that the second flag raising was not staged. On March 4, 1945, he was killed by the Japanese after entering a cave on Iwo Jima and his remains have never been found. The subjects of Rosenthal's photograph (identification changes were made in 1947, 2016, and 2019), from right to left, are as follows:[4]
- Position 1: Corporal Harlon H. Block
- Position 2: Corporal Harold P. Keller
- Position 3: Private First Class Franklin R. Sousley
- Position 4: Sergeant Michael Strank
- Position 5: Private First Class Harold H. Schultz
- Position 6: Private First Class Ira H. Hayes
The Memorial was approved by the
The memorial was dedicated on Wednesday, November 10, 1954, the 179th anniversary of the founding of the Marine Corps.
President John F. Kennedy issued a proclamation on June 12, 1961, that a Flag of the United States should fly over the memorial 24 hours a day, which is one of the few official sites where this is required.[7] Despite being mounted on the staff of the sculpture, which depicts an event that occurred when the U.S. flag had 48 stars, the flag used is a modern one (specifically, one featuring the number and arrangement of stars prescribed as of when the flag is being flown) in keeping with both the text of the proclamation and the memorial's dedication to all Marines who died in defense of the United States regardless of when their deaths occurred.
The memorial is located on a high ridge, overlooking the national capital. The Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. uses the memorial as the centerpiece of its weekly Sunset Parade, featuring the Drum and Bugle Corps and the Silent Drill Platoon.
Memorial marker and inscriptions
The memorial consists of front and rear inscriptions, and inscribed in gold letters around the polished black granite upper base of the memorial is the date and location of every United States Marine Corps major action up to the present time.
Front (west side): "Uncommon Valor Was A Common Virtue" – "
Rear (east side): "In Honor And Memory Of The Men Of The United States Marine Corps Who Have Given Their Lives To Their Country Since 10 November 1775"
Felix de Weldon's and Joe Rosenthal's names are also inscribed on the bottom left and bottom right base of the front side of the memorial. Rosenthal's name was added in 1982.
Marker
"Dedicated To The Marine Dead Of All Wars, And Their Comrades Of Other Services Who Fell Fighting Beside Them.
Created By Felix De Weldon, And Inspired By The Immortal Photograph Taken By Joseph J. Rosenthal On February 23, 1945, Atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands.
Erected By The Marine Corps War Memorial Foundation, With Funds Provided By Marines And Their Friends, And With The Cooperation And Support Of Many Public Officials.
Dedicated, November 10, 1954"
Major action inscriptions
- Revolutionary War 1775–1783
- French Naval War 1798–1801
- Tripoli 1801–1805
- War of 1812 1812–1815
- Florida Indian Wars
- Mexico 1846–1848
- War Between the States 1861–1865
- Spanish War 1898
- Philippine Insurrection 1898–1902
- Boxer Rebellion 1900
- Nicaragua 1912
- Vera Cruz 1914
- Haiti 1915–1934
- Santo Domingo1916–1924
- World War I 1917–1918
- Belleau Wood
- Soissons
- St. Mihiel
- Blanc Mont
- Meuse-Argonne
- Nicaragua 1926–1933
- World War II 1941–1945
- 1941;
- Pearl Harbor
- Wake Island
- Bataan & Corregidor
- 1942;
- Midway
- Guadalcanal
- 1943;
- New Georgia
- Bougainville
- Tarawa
- New Britain
- 1944;
- Marshall Islands
- Marianas Islands
- Peleliu
- 1945;
- Iwo Jima
- Okinawa
- Korea 1950
- Lebanon 1958
- Vietnam 1962–1975
- Dominican Republic 1965
- Lebanon 1981–1984
- Grenada1983
- Persian Gulf 1987–1991
- Panama 1988–1990
- Somalia 1992–1994
- Afghanistan2001–2021
- Iraq2003–2011
Memorial rumor and criticism
A persistent rumor has attributed the existence of a thirteenth hand from the six statues of the men depicted on the memorial, and speculation about the possible reasons for it. When informed of the rumor, de Weldon exclaimed, "Thirteen hands. Who needed thirteen hands? Twelve were enough."[8]
In discussing the site for the United States Air Force Memorial, originally to be near de Weldon's work, J. Carter Brown, chairman of the United States Commission of Fine Arts in 1998, described the Marine Corps Memorial as kitsch. "It was taken from a photograph, it is by a sculptor, even though he was a member of this commission at one point, who is not going to go down as a Michelangelo in history—and yet it is very effective, largely because of its site," he said. Brown's remark was met with calls for his resignation from the commission, and disagreement over his categorization from the commission's staff.[9]
Refurbishment
On April 29, 2015, philanthropist David Rubenstein pledged over five million dollars to refurbish the memorial in honor of his father, a Marine veteran from World War II who died in 2013, "and all Marines who have died in service to the United States." The $5.37 million donation, made through the National Park Foundation, supported cleaning and waxing the statue, polishing the black granite panels, regilding inscriptions, relandscaping, and making repairs to the pavement, lighting and flagpole.[10] While the Park Service performs regular routine maintenance, this was the first comprehensive refurbishment of the memorial since its dedication in 1954.[11] The work was done in three phases with completion in 2018.[12]
Related memorials
When there were no government funds for sculpture during the war, the sculptor financed a concrete version of similar design in a one-third size that was placed on a parcel of land in Washington, D.C. until 1947, when it was put into storage. It later was restored and displayed at a museum on an aircraft carrier and again, returned to storage. This small concrete statue of the second U.S. flag raising at Iwo Jima in 1945 was scheduled to be auctioned in February 2013 at a New York auction dedicated to World War II artifacts,[13] but it failed to receive the minimum bid required for the auction of it to begin.
Other related memorials and copies:
- The original plaster working model for the bronze and granite memorial statue currently stands in Harlingen, Texas, at the Marine Military Academy, a private Marine Corps-inspired youth military academy. The academy also is the final resting place of Corporal Harlon Block, one of the flag raisers who was killed in action on Iwo Jima.
- A small model stands in the lobby of Spruance Hall, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. It was presented by the sculptor, a resident of Newport.
- There are scaled-down replicas at three Marine bases:
- At Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia just outside the front gate.
- At Kāne'ohe Bay.
- At
- A similar (though not identical) statue was erected located at Cape Coral, Florida, in 1964[16]
- On 18 May 1973, a bronze relief of the memorial was placed along Cedar Point Road near St. Nicholas's Chapel at the Patuxent River Naval Air Stationin Maryland.
- A version of the memorial dedicated in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of World War II stands in the Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania.
- A similar design is used for the National Iwo Jima Memorial in Newington, Connecticut, which was dedicated in 1995 to the 6,821 U.S. servicemen who died in the battle.
- A copy was dedicated at Fall River's Bicentennial Park, along the banks of the Taunton River, in Massachusetts in 2005.[17]
- The tilted spire above the National Museum of the Marine Corps is a visual allusion to the original sculpture.
- A plywood cutout version is found along Highway 62 ca. 17 miles (27 km) from the center of Twentynine Palms, California.
- Iwo Jima Sculpture and Memorial Wall at Foster Park in Young Harris, Georgia
See also
- Iron Mike
- National Museum of the Marine Corps
- United States Navy Memorial
- List of national memorials of the United States
References
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps.
- ^ a b "Memorial honoring Marines dedicated". Reading Eagle. Pennsylvania. Associated Press. November 10, 1954. p. 1.
- ^ "Arlington Ridge Park – George Washington Memorial Parkway". National Park Service. October 31, 2017. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
- ^ "USMC statement on Iwo Jima flag raisers".
- ISBN 978-0-16-095331-6.
- ^ http://www.gemeneman.se/MinSommar2005.pdf Archived August 20, 2010, at the Wayback Machine (in Swedish) Translation, page 3 line 28-29: The most famous war memorial in the United States, U.S. Marine Corps Memorial in Washington D.C., stands on a base in granite pieces from Hägghult. Hägghult is the name of the quarry, just outside Lönsboda.
- ^ "Marine monument seen as symbol of hopes, dreams". Spokane Daily Chronicle. Washington. Associated Press. November 10, 1954. p. 2.
- ^ "Permanent flag ordered". Kentucky New Era. Hopkinsville. Associated Press. June 13, 1961. p. 3.
- ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the originalon September 18, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2008.
- ^ "Iwo Jima memorial called 'kitsch'". Deseret News. March 8, 1998. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
- ^ Ruane, Michael E. (April 29, 2015). "Billionaire David Rubenstein gives $5M to refurbish Iwo Jima sculpture". Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
- ^ Zongker, Brett (April 29, 2015). "Marine Corps Memorial to be restored after $5.4M donation". The Associated Press. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
- ^ "U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial Rehabilitation – George Washington Memorial Parkway (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
- ^ "Original Iwo Jima monument could fetch up to $1.8M at NYC auction". Fox News. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
- ^ Recruit Training – Crucible Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island
- ^ Conservation of the Iwo Jima Monument Parris Island for the United States Marine Corps by Debbie Smith National Center for Preservation Technology and Training
- ^ "Iwo Jima Memorial". SWFL Art & Community Theater. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
Many think that it is a replica of the 60-foot-tall Iwo Jima Memorial near Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, but it is, in fact, one of three originals that were created by a sculptor by the name of Felix de Weldon.
- ^ Daley, Lauren (November 7, 2005). "Iwo Jima monument graces Fall River". South Coast Today. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
External links
- Official website
- Uncommon Valor A short USMC-created film about the Iwo Jima Memorial
- Marine Military Academy Iwo Jima monument
- USMC War Memorial photographs at WW2DB
- Marine Corps War Memorial (Marine Barracks Washington webpage)
- Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) No. VA-9, "United States Marine Corps War Memorial, Marshall Drive, Arlington, Arlington County, VA"
- Marine Corps University History Division page on Marine Corps War Memorial