Smithsonian Channel Documentaries
The Unknown Flag Raiser of Iwo Jima
2016 • E4 Jul 3, 2016 60m
In February 1945, Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal captured the image of five U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy Corpsman hoisting the American flag atop a mountain in Iwo Jima. The identities of these men have been accepted for 70 years, but new evidence shows that one Marine was never identified. We finally reveal an unnamed hero using modern science to examine the iconic photo in ways that we have never seen before. Then we look at the battle and the stories of the men who risked it all for their country and their brothers in arms.