JOE ROSENTHAL - COMMEMORATIVE ENVELOPE SIGNED - HFSID 51510

JOE ROSENTHAL
Framed Commemorative Envelope honoring Flag Day 1947, signed by the combat photographer
Commemorative Envelope signed: "Joe Rosenthal", 6¼x3½. Envelope commemorating Flag Day, June 14, 1947, two 1-cent George Washington stamps affixed, postmarked U.S. Navy 15688 BR., June 14, 1947. Cachet, which pictures an American flag, is captioned: "The Stars and Stripes Forever". Joe Rosenthal (1911-2006), a veteran Associated Press combat photographer, won the Pulitzer Prize for News Photography in May 1945 for his world-famous photograph depicting five U.S. Marines from the Second Battalion, 28th Regiment, Fifth Division and a Navy corpsman raising the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi, the highest southern point on the island of Iwo Jima. There was considerable controversy as well as acclaim over this photograph, which was taken on February 23, 1945 and was later used as the model for a U.S. stamp, a war bond campaign and for the U.S. Marine War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. The "Stars and Stripes" had originally been raised on the summit at 10:37 a.m. It was then decided that a larger flag should replace the first, which is the flag raising that Rosenthal captures in his photograph. Contrary to criticism from some circles, Rosenthal had not staged this shot - he had simply captured the raising of the second flag. Nearly 7,000 Americans, almost 6,000 of them Marines, including three in Rosenthal's photograph, died in the battle for the strategically important Pacific island that had previously been a Japanese stronghold. That represents nearly one-third of the Marines killed in all of WWII. After the war, in which he also took photographs of the invasions of New Guinea and Guam, Rosenthal became the chief photographer and manager of Times Wide World Photos before going to work for the "San Francisco Chronicle". Slightly creased and soiled, stained at upper margin above signature. Stamped address to a collector at lower right. Overall, fine condition. Framed to an overall size of 22¼x18¼.