Suribachi to boost the morale of the men. War photographer, Joe Rosenthal, took a picture of this flag raising, which ran in newspapers all across the United States. The six men who raised the flag on top of Mt. Suribachi were Marine Sergeant Michael Stank, Marine Corporal Harland Block, Marine Private First Class Franklin R. Sousley, Marine Private First Class Rene A. Gagnon, Marine Private First Class Ira Hayes, and Navy corpsman PhM 2/c John H. Bradley. Three of these men died within the next couple of weeks in the continuing battle for Iwo Jima. .
After the Rosenthal photograph appeared in the United States newspapers, Felix DeWeldon, a sculptor who was working with the United States Navy, was so moved by it that he made a clay replica of it. Two days after the photograph appeared, the United States Senate called for a national monument to be made based on the photograph. Eventually, DeWeldon was commissioned to design and sculpt the statue, officially called the United States Marine War Memorial, based on Joe Rosenthal's photograph. The memorial was completely paid for by private donation. DeWeldon used the survivors to pose for the sculpture, and he used pictures of the three dead marines to recreate their likenesses. First, DeWeldon used steel framework to build the figures' bone structure, then covered this with the muscles and skin. Each bronze figure is 32 feet high, and the total monument stands 78 feet tall. President Eisenhower dedicated the monument on November 10, 1954. Unlike World War II, there was not a lot of glory in fighting in Korea. .
Although war was never officially declared, and it was called a police action', the Korean War began on June 25, 1950 when a Russian political ally, Kim II Sung, sent North Korean troops across the border at the 38th Parallel to invade South Korea. The invasion was drafted by Soviet officers and approved by the head of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, and by China.
