On March 26, it will be the 79 years since the island of Iwo Jima was declared secure. The bloodiest battle in US Marine Corps history was winding down. A month earlier, a photo of six Marines raising the flag on Mount Suribachi raised the spirits of Marines still fighting on the island, and touched the hearts of Americans on the Homefront, where it ran on the front pages of 200 Sunday newspapers.

The photographer, Joe Rosenthal, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945, and got a bonus from the Associated Press and a camera magazine. But while Rosenthal’s iconic photo is the most reproduced shot in history, his name and the rest of his long photography career is being lost to the sands of time.

A small group of veterans and civilians is trying to change that as the 80th anniversary of Iwo Jima and Rosenthal’s photo approaches in 2025.

The Joe Rosenthal Chapter of the USMC Combat Correspondents Association is pulling out the stops to recognize their hero, undertaking efforts on local, state and federal levels.

One statewide effort is nominating Rosenthal for the California Hall of Fame for 2025. This honor is for state residents (of at least five years) who make a lasting impression on the state, the Nation and the world; embody the California Dream; and inspire people to further their own dreams. Rosenthal’s iconic photo; his long career as a San Francisco newspaper photographer; and his work inspiring young photojournalists at the Eddie Adams Photo Workshop, checks all the boxes. Rosenthal also inspired generations of Americans and US Marines by his powerful photo. “It touched the soul of a nation,” one camera magazine rightly said.

Joe Rosenthal (1911-2006), was a San Francisco newspaper photographer when news of Pearl Harbor hit the West Coast. He tried to enlist as an Army photographer, but was turned down due to his poor eyesight. Instead, he joined the Merchant Marine and photographed in the Atlantic, North Africa and in London during the Blitz. But, always the newsman, he felt sidelined and missing the real action. The Associated Press offered him an assignment in the Pacific, and his life changed to storming beaches along with soldiers and Marines. His final island landing was on Iwo Jima, the first Japanese territory the US attacked in WWII.

On the fifth day of the five-week battle, Rosenthal joined a Marine patrol heading up 550-foot Mt. Suribachi, the highest point on the small, volcanic island. Much has been written (and rumored) about what happened next, but we know that moments after reaching the summit, Rosenthal took what is arguably the most important photo in history.

For a 19-year-old from Washington, D.C., who followed his California Dream and never looked back, his induction into the California Hall of Fame seems a fitting final honor. Next year is also the 80th anniversary of other WWII battles and the end of the war itself.  And it’s the 250 birthday of the US Marine Corps, which considers Iwo Jima as one of its most significant battles. After 2025, it’s expected that interest in WWII and its history will dissipate. That’s why the Joe Rosenthal chapter is now pushing for increased recognition for the photographer, before his name is lost along with the names of the many island battles the US fought in the Pacific during WWII.

Only two photographers, Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange, are currently in the Hall among the 169 inductees. Other members include politicians and statesmen like Ronald Reagan and George Shultz; visionaries like Walt Disney and Steve Jobs; athletes like Brandi Chastain and Willie Mays; and many from the entertainment industry including Steven Spielberg, Elizabeth Taylor and Clint Eastwood.

It is this last group, the entertainment industry, who the Joe Rosenthal Chapter is especially calling on for letters supporting Joe Rosenthal’s nomination.

Rosenthal’s photo and its spirit permeate Hollywood heroics. It’s hard to forget John Wayne as Sgt. Striker in the Sands of Iwo Jima, or Clint Eastwood’s 2006 Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima, which told the story of the battle from both sides and is said to have brought the history of the battle to Japan, where it had not been well known.

Hollywood can’t pass up a good story, and the heroics of those who fought on Iwo Jima, and the exquisite symbolism of Joe Rosenthal’s famous photo, make for enduring stories. Rosenthal’s induction in the California Hall of Fame is an important step to make sure the stories continue to be told.

Letters of endorsement can be emailed to the Joe Rosenthal Chapter Historian at: Tom@tomgraves.com 

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The Joe Rosenthal Chapter of the USMC Combat Correspondents Association is the sole local chapter of a national organization of retired and active duty Marine journalists, photographers, videographers, TV and radio personnel and public relations professionals.  Civilian journalists are also admitted as members.  At one time 40 or more members would fill a dining room for monthly meetings. Many had been veterans of Iwo Jima: Marines who fought there, Navy JASCO members who coordinated artillery, aircraft and naval bombardment, and a B-29 pilot who landed his crippled bomber on the island while the fighting was still goin on.  Now the former San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (renamed in honor of its most famous member) is made up of mostly Vietnam-era veterans, and has members from Hawaii to Illinois, and even one in France.  As the Chapter’s numbers shrinks, its members are committed to keeping Rosenthal’s name and his contributions to the war effort, alive.

It’s surprising to Craig Atkinson that a decade has passed since he took this photograph. His eldest son Oscar stands to the left of the frame, his niece Emily to the right. Back then, they were five and four, excited young children preparing for the day’s festivities.

“We were at a Chinese wedding at Tatton Hall in Cheshire; it was early autumn and Oscar and my other son, Hugo, two, who is in the centre, looking at his iPad, were pageboys. Hugo is standing with my sister-in-law, Jade. It makes me feel nostalgic and sentimental.”

Atkinson says he rarely plans his photographs; alongside his work as a fine art lecturer and publisher of the Café Royal Books photography magazines, he mostly takes pictures of his family. “We have a couple of those screens around the house that display a random selection of photos of the kids; it’s a great conversation starter.”

Seven years ago, Atkinson set himself a challenge to use only a phone to take photos. “It meant no lenses, no SD cards, no wires and no heavy bags. I stuck to it and haven’t owned a camera for many years. I enjoy the freedom of not having all the kit and the decision-making that goes with it. I don’t try to take epic, highly edited single images, astro shots or sports. I’m more interested in the day, the story, the event.

“The eye contact is one of my favourite parts of this shot,” he says. “Along with their pride, and the innocence.”

In an effort to express the feelings of memory, affirmation and longing, the artistic vision of Gae Polisner and the photography of Rick Kopstein has culminated in a gallery of art that Long Islanders get to witness.

Collages made by Polisner using pictures taken by Kopstein are on full display in their art exhibit titled “PHOTO pOP” which runs through April 2 at Industry Lounge & Gallery at 344 New York Ave.

Huntington resident Polisner, an award-winning author of young adult and middle-grade books, began collaging during the pandemic in an attempt to discover something new and keep her mind at ease. It began as a hobby, but soon snowballed into a new profession after gaining inspiration from Kopstein’s
work.

Kopstein, of Huntington Station, had a show at Industry in October 2022 for the release of his book, “Made in New York,” a collection of photographs he took in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Having been friends with Kopstein for years, Polisner attended the show, and a new idea sprung as she was flipping through the pages.

“When I got in the car, I said to my husband, ‘Do you think he’d get mad at me if I cut his book up?,’” Polisner said. “Every image I see, if it’s an image that I love, I want to put it into my art.”

When Polisner got home, she called Kopstein and asked him if it was alright for her to cut images out of the copy of his book that she had bought, but he had a better idea in mind. He had the proofs for all of the images that he used and sent her those instead so she could use them in whatever ways she wante to.

Over the course of a year and a half, Polisner has made dozens of collages using photos that Kopstein has taken over the years. It has become a routine of Kopstein sending Polisner images that she could use, even putting his two cents into the artistic process.

“As time went on, she just got more experienced in collages and more creative,” Kopstein said. She was “getting pictures from me, even up until … a couple of weeks before the show, I would say, ‘Hey, how about this one?’ ”

After getting confirmation from Industry that the show was set to occur, Kopstein proposed the idea of putting the original photos he took next to the collages made by Polisner  to show how the images were reimagined.

The display is described by Polisner as “an exhibit of memory, affirmation and longing,” three adjectives that all stand on their own. The “memory” represents the nostalgia and history tied to Kopstein’s photos, and the memories that come along with them. “Affirmation” refers to the empowerment of women and tropes of feminism tied into most of her pieces, and “longing” alludes to
the yearning for easier times incited by the collages.

Polisner described her piece “She Huffed and She Puffed (Winter Tutu)” as representing “affirmation of power, the good kind of power as opposed to the evil kind of power.”

The title “Bardo” refers to the Buddhism term that means “the in-between state that we occupy between death, and whatever the next state of reincarnation is,” according to Polisner. The mostly-white canvas is meant to lack contrast on the white wall, as if it “almost disappears.”

Her collage titled “Off the Grid” included two plastic containers on the wall below it, each filled with small images that attendees could attach to the piece with Velcro. The interactive piece was altered throughout the night as people walked by and stuck a new image to it, some with purpose and others haphazardly.

All of Polisner and Kopstein’s work is for sale. Both contributors will be popping in regularly at the gallery to greet attendees and take pictures.

Photo of artists by Ken Farrell

Remaining photos by Kenny Spurell

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Kenny Spurrell is a reporter with The SBU Media Group, part of Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism’s Working Newsroom program for students and local media.

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