Iwo Jima Monument to Be Auctioned-- Part 1

From the Feb. 8, 2013, Huffington Post "Iwo Jima Monument To Be Auctioned In NYC Among Wold War II Artifacts" by Ula Ilnytzky.

OK, it wasn't the big one in Arlington, Virginia, which is why the article caught my attention back then.  It is an original smaller statue of the famous big one of them raising the flag at that small island in the Pacific.  It is expected to fetch up to $1.8 million at a New York auction of World War II artifacts.

Most people didn't even know it existed, being familiar with the 32-foot-tall one in Arlington Virginia, commemorating the flag-raising on February 23, 1945, which was dedicated in 1954.  Of course, the sculpture is based on the famous Joe Rosenthal photograph which won him a Pulitzer Prize.

Sculptor Felix de Weldon, then serving in the Navy, started making a 12 1/2 foot one soon after the big one was unveiled.  He cancelled a weekend pass to make a wax sculture.  Congress ok'd it, but gave no money, so de Weldon financed it himself.

--GreGen