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(Image source: Carol Sonstein / Pasadena Star-News)
BY CHRISTIAN BRYANT
The man who provided the American flag seen in the iconic World War II-era image of soldiers
taking the Japanese island of Iwo Jima has died. U.S. Navy veteran Alan Wood passed away
at his home in Sierra Madre, Calif. He was 90 years old.
It is believed Wood was the man responsible for getting the flag for this moment on Feb.
25, 1945. A navy corpsman and five marines are seen working together to plant an American
flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. (Via Library of Congress / Joe Rosenthal)
The U.S. military wanted Iwo Jima to be a fueling stop for aircrafts in the assault
on Okinawa, Japan. The battle took 36 days, but according to The Christian Science Monitor,
marines were sent to plant a flag on Mount Suribachi on day four.
As the History Channel tells it, Wood's flag was the second flag to be used that day.
"Earlier that day — during the course of the fierce Pacific battle — soldiers had
planted a smaller flag, inspiring the troops below. The later recreation of the event was
witnessed by photographer Joe Rosenthal, who snapped a Pulitzer Prize-winning picture."
(Via History Channel)
And it was Wood's flag that was captured in Rosenthal's photo. According to the Pasadena
Star-News, "Wood had recovered the famous Iwo Jima flag from a salvage depot at Pearl
Harbor, and brought it aboard the Navy vessel LST-779, where he was a communications officer."
The Los Angeles Times reports Wood later retired and joined the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena
as a technical artist and a spokesman. Many people claimed to have provided the flag,
but retired Marine Col. Dave Severance — who commanded the company that took Mount Suribachi
— confirmed it was Wood's.
The picture was the inspiration for Austrian-American artist Felix de Weldon's bronze sculpture,
a replica of which stands at the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va. (Via BBC)
Wood is survived by his son and three grandchildren.