Signed photo of 'Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima' offered at Heritage Auctions

This rare signed copy of Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is expected to fetch up to $25,000 at Heritage Auctions' Photographs Auction on October 4 in New York. The print has four signatures: three by the only three soldiers in the picture who survived the battle, and one by photographer Joe Rosenthal. The photo was originally owned by artist Felix de Weldon, who used it as his basis for the massive sculpture for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

Heritage Auctions tells more about this iconic image:

"On February 23, 1945 there were two American flag raisings on the top of Mount Suribachi. The first flag was hoisted about 10:30 am. It was decided that the first flag was too small and that a second larger flag should be upraised. Around noon the second flag was uplifted and Rosenthal took this Pulitzer Prize winning photograph. There were six flag-raisers originally identified in the photograph - Ira Hayes, Michael Strank, Franklin Sousley, Rene Gagnon, John Bradley and Harlon Block - only Hayes, Gagnon, and Bradley survived the battle.

The impact of this photograph at the time cannot be underestimated. The three surviving second flag-raisers, Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes, met President Truman on April 20, 1945 at the White House and were enlisted to go on the Seventh War Loan Drive to raise money for the war effort."