A Fitting Memorial

[372 words] On the morning of February 19, 1945, the fourth and fifth divisions of the United States Marine Corps invaded Iwo Jima after a 72-hour bombardment. Four days later, the men of the 28th regiment of the fifth division captured Mt. Suribachi. Five Marines and a Navy corpsman planted the U.S. flag in what would become one of the most inspiring and motivating photographs of the war. In 19 54, President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicated the statue of the famous photograph that would be called, “the Marine Corps War Memorial.” The sole inscription on the memorial is, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue,” a phrase said by Admiral Chester Nimitz of the Marines who fought and died to take the island from the Japanese. The memorial, which cost $650,000, was paid for by U.S. Marines. No public money was used for the memorial or its construction. When our son,…