Assignment 4 - Daniel Brewer

Iwo Jima Flag Raising - Joe Rosenthal/Associated Press
For this week's assignment, I chose a picture of soldiers raising the American Flag atop a mountain on the island of Iwo Jima during WWII.  This picture represents American victory in World War 2, and the photo conveys a message of hope, because at the time it was taken, many people in mainland United States may have thought that we weren't winning the war.

Just before the photograph was taken, there was a hard-fought battle for both sides over control of Iwo Jima. Many soldiers on both sides died that day, and even though the Americans suffered many casualties both in this battle and in others, every victory counted in the war.

The people in this photograph feel very accomplished about having taken over the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. However, of the six soldiers in the picture,  (Ira Hayes, Harold Schultz, Michael Strank, Franklin Sousley, Rene Gagnon, and Harlon Block) three would later die on the island (Strank, Sousley, and Block).