--- title: Raising the Flag at Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima: History of the Photo description: The iconic photograph was taken on Feb. 23, 1945 canonical: https://time.com/3709182/iwo-jima-flag-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-23T11:45:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:54.113Z article:section: History og:title: Raising the Flag at Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima: History of the Photo og:description: The iconic photograph was taken on Feb. 23, 1945 og:url: https://time.com/3709182/iwo-jima-flag-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e66ab724f3b3529/69877f3c5f570f1c12b15462/iwo.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: IWO JIMA FLAG RAISING og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Raising the Flag at Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima: History of the Photo twitter:description: The iconic photograph was taken on Feb. 23, 1945 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e66ab724f3b3529/69877f3c5f570f1c12b15462/iwo.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Story Behind World War II's Most Famous Photograph > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: The Iconic Photo of D-Day [Watch (HLS stream): The Iconic Photo of D-Day](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PohPLQUq.m3u8) (4:56)  _Published 2009-06-05. Robert Capa's LIFE photos of the invasion of Normandy -- and a lone soldier near the beach -- are icons of WWII, and were almost destroyed_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 23, 2015 11:45 AM UTC  U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on Feb. 23, 1945. U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on Feb. 23, 1945. Joe Rosenthal—AP Photo  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 23, 2015 11:45 AM UTC One day in late February of 1945, TIME correspondent Robert Sherrod cabled his editors a report about what had occurred on the island of Iwo Jima during the previous day. The island’s Mount Suribachi had been captured that morning, Feb. 23, and an American flag had been raised there. “A lot of the boys cried when they saw the flag raised on top of the mountain,” Sherrod reported, in parentheses, having heard so from a marine officer. “When the U.S. flag was raised over this highest point on the island,” the magazine duly informed readers [in the next issue](http://time.com/vault/issue/1945-03-05/page/27/), “some marines wept openly.” _(Read more about Sherrod’s cables from the beginning of the battle_ [_here_](http://ti.me/1F3cMDT)_.)_ The sight that made those men weep led to one of the most enduring images of the war and perhaps the 20th century. The Joe Rosenthal Associated Press photograph of a flag-raising on Suribachi was [printed](http://time.com/vault/issue/1945-03-05/page/17/) in that very issue of TIME, with a caption noting that the moment would “rank with Valley Forge, Gettysburg and Tarawa.” And, within weeks, the picture had become, as TIME [reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1945-03-26/page/62) then, “easily the most widely printed photograph of World War II.” But did the photograph actually capture the moment that made the marines cry? It’s hard to be certain. Rosenthal’s photo wasn’t of the first moment the mountain was captured and claimed, as TIME explained: --- > “” --- And, the article added, neither of those moments were _official._ Though the high point had been captured, it would take weeks for the marines to take the whole island. It wasn’t until March, when that mission had been accomplished, that the U.S.’s Admiral Chester Nimitz supervised the official raising of an American flag at Suribachi. _Read next:_ [_The True History Behind_ ](http://time.com/3718050/downton-abbey-julian-fellowes-jewish/?xid=time%5Freadnext)[Downton Abbey_’s Anti-Semitism Storyline_](http://time.com/3718050/downton-abbey-julian-fellowes-jewish/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3709182/iwo-jima-flag-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3709182/iwo-jima-flag-history/"},"headline":"The Story Behind World War II's Most Famous Photograph","datePublished":"2015-02-23T11:45:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:54.113Z","description":"The image of American soldiers raising an American flag on the island of Iwo Jima was taken on Feb. 23, 1945","url":"https://time.com/3709182/iwo-jima-flag-history/","keywords":["conflict","America","World War II","Marines","WWII"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e66ab724f3b3529/69877f3c5f570f1c12b15462/iwo.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e66ab724f3b3529/69877f3c5f570f1c12b15462/iwo.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"IWO JIMA FLAG RAISING","caption":"IWO JIMA FLAG RAISING","creditText":"Joe Rosenthal—AP Photo","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/conflict/","name":"conflict"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3709182/iwo-jima-flag-history/","name":"The Story Behind World War II's Most Famous Photograph"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Iconic Photo of D-Day","description":"Robert Capa's LIFE photos of the invasion of Normandy -- and a lone soldier near the beach -- are icons of WWII, and were almost destroyed","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PohPLQUq/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-06-05T22:41:07.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PohPLQUq.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3709182/iwo-jima-flag-history/","duration":"PT4M56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3709182/iwo-jima-flag-history/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```