Thanks Les (and others) for more details. I won't go into the eye witness story. There's just no reason to... Just keep in mind... Back in WWII, photographers were not allowed at the front lines and soldiers most definitely had no place to carry such a large flag. And poor Ira was a Marine PR statement that the Marines were fully integrated...

No Matter the origins of the pic, it still stands as a monument to the Marines and their effort in the war. Staged or not, it is a symbol of their bravery against insurmountable odds and a remaining memory of all those lost in battles that have long since seemed to lose their importance in history.

Google advanced search for Joe Rosenthal turned up this thread at #150,
and these interesting links:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/JRosenthal.html
http://www.iwojima.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8DwC_CQ9fg
but nothing on his camera.

AND it's got a mask in the viewfinder for a long lens, a 10"?? Possibly.

Les

It comes in at around 2:58, just past the half way mark
and it's not there for long.

For the sake of convenience...



And, while we're on the topic of civilian-to-wartime transition, this ad appeared in the January, 1942 edition of Popular Photography. Wonder if Uncle Sam's reply was "gee, thanks, Santa, but really, could you POSSIBLY make this thing shine any brighter?!"