Joe Rosenthal, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his iconic image of US marines raising an American flag over Iwo Jima in 1945, has died aged 94 reports CBS News.
His picture, often used to exemplify America’s struggle in WW2 was taken in 1945 when the US invaded a small pacific island . It was an invasion that ultimately cost the lives of 6800 servicemen but proved pivotal in the defeat of Japan .
The image, which in subsequent years was accused of being deliberately staged for propaganda purposes – a charge which Rosenthal always denied, was in fact the second raising of the Stars and Stripes on that day.
The first flag raising was deemed by Rosenthal to be ‘too small too count’ and had been edited out of the selection sent to his newspaper.