Louis R. Lowery
He is best known for taking the first photographs of the first American flag that was raised on top of Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima on the morning of February 23, 1945.
He died on April 15, 1987, at age 70 from aplastic anemia and is buried in Quantico National Cemetery in Prince William County, Virginia near the Marine Corps War Memorial.
Lowery covered fighting on Peleliu, Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa during World War II.
On February 23, 1945, Lowery, then a staff sergeant, accompanied the 40-man combat patrol (which included two Navy corpsmen) that climbed Mount Suribachi to seize and occupy the crest and raise the Second Battalion's U.S. flag if possible to signal that it was captured.
The patrol led by First Lieutenant Harold Schrier,[2] captured and secured the mountaintop and raised the flag attached to a Japanese steel water pipe approximately 10:30 A.M.
Thomas who did a CBS news interview aboard the flagship USS Eldorado (AGC-11) after meeting with Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner and Lieutenant General Holland Smith on February 25, 1945.
The flag was determined to be too small to be easily seen north of Mount Suribachi where most of the Japanese soldiers were located and heavy fighting would occur in the coming days.
A second (and larger) American flag attached to another Japanese steel pipe, was raised and planted by a group of six different Marines approximately 1 P.M. the same day which resulted in the world-famous photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Photography later that year.
On March 14, by orders of General Holland Smith, another U.S. flag was officially raised during a ceremony at V Amphibious Corps headquarters near the base of Mount Suribachi which signaled the island was occupied by U.S.
Left to right: 1st Lt. Harold Schrier (kneeling beside radioman's legs), Pfc. Raymond Jacobs (radio operator), Sgt. Henry "Hank" Hansen (soft cap, holding flagstaff), Platoon Sgt. Ernest "Boots" Thomas (seated), Pvt. Phil Ward (holding lower flagstaff), PhM2c. John Bradley , USN (holding flagstaff, standing above Ward and Thomas), Pfc. James Michels (holding M1 carbine ), and Cpl. Charles Lindberg (standing above Michels).
