The Most Famous War Photo Ever Is NOT What You Think

The most famous war photo in history isn't the moment you think it captured. The truth is stranger.

February 1945. Marines fighting through hell on Iwo Jima finally take the top of Mount Suribachi and raise a small American flag that morning.

But that first flag was too small to be seen across the island, and a commander wanted to keep it as a souvenir. So a few hours later, a second, larger flag was sent up to replace it. As that bigger flag rose, photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped one frame, almost by accident.

That photo of the second flag became the most reproduced image in history. The catch: for over 70 years, the military had some of the men in it wrong. Only in 2016 and 2019 did the Marine Corps finally correct who was actually there.

It wasn't the first flag, and the heroes weren't even named correctly. The legend was real, just not the story we were sold.

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