Vandalism of the World War-2 photograph of the US victory in the Battle of Iwo Jima

VANDALISM UNABATED 

 It seems our Government officials will never learn. Chief Elections Commissioner, Puducherry in association with Dept of Posts issued a subsidised Meghdoot Post Card with the morphed photograph of the Indian flag on the famous photograph of World War II US flag raising at Iwo Jima.

The iconic photograph was taken on February 23, 1945 by Joe Rosenthal. It depicts United States Marines raising a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi, during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

The photograph became extremely popular, being reprinted in thousands of publications. Later, it became the only photograph to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its publication, and came to be regarded in the United States as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war, and quite possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time.[Wikipedia].

Over the time this iconic photograph also became the victim of most "MORPHED PHOTOGRAPH" in several countries including India. Little they realize that this kind of PHOTOSHOP tricks do not really help glorify their own patriotic farvour.

 WATCH HERE EXAMPLES OF A FEW MORE MORPHED PHOTOS REPLACING THE US "STARS AND STRIPES" WITH THE INDIAN TRICOLOUR.

 
 The Goan newspapers of 19 December 2011 carried several advertisements on the great occasion of celebrating the golden jubilee which turned out to be a sheer nonsense , it was found the image selected by the Goan Government agencies is a FAKE one.

The advertisement showed Marines holding high the Indian tricolor in an act of triumph.  If you think the newspaper ad. was to glorify and well up patriotism,  you are terribly wrong . In fact the  advertisements should be considered as an affront to our dignity.

 

In the recent past the same art work  made by some braindeads in the government agencies had revealed how an immortal photograph that  came to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of American people in World War II in the Pacific had been unashamedly vandalized. Even the 'Fake art work' was published  by the Defence Research and Development Organisation  (DRDO - an agency under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India)

  It seems Government Departments just won’t learn.

 Heroes of the War in the Pacific

 The US stamp was issued just five months after the Flag-Raising atop Mt. Suribachi in Iwo Jima. On the day of issue, people stood patiently in lines stretching for city blocks on a sweltering July day in 1945 for a chance to buy the beloved stamp. For many years, this was the biggest selling stamp in the history of the US Post Office. (Over 137 million sold.)

 A retouched copy of the original photograph. Issued in 1995 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first Iwo Jima stamp.

 During World War II, exactly seventy one years ago – U.S. fighting forces displayed extraordinary courage and determination in winning the war in the Pacific. But it was on the island of Iwo Jima that a singular event occurred that would come to symbolize for all time American valour in the long bitter fight against the Japanese. With Japan’s home islands sighted squarely in their minds, as the next target for American warplanes, the U.S. determined that the  volcanic island of Iwo Jima was vital to the US goal. The only island in its region suitable for an airfield. Iwo Jima was already the site of two operational Japanese air strips, when the US Marines began their invasion on 19 February 1945. On February 23 – after clawing their way up Mt. Suribachi  under relentless Japanese fire – Marine raised a small American flag on the summit.

 

The sight of the American flag 'The Old Glory' waving in the breeze evoked cheers from Marines. Offshore, U.S. warships blew their whistles in tribute. Few hours later, as a larger flag was being raised on the Mt. Suribachi, the Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal took the memorable picture of the event and became the most famous of the Pacific war.  

The photograph was extremely popular, being reprinted in thousands of publications and came to be regarded in the United States as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war, and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time.

50 Years of Goa's Liberation and Battle of Iwo Jima Fake Photographs

A commemorative postal stamp marking the Golden Jubilee of Goa’s Liberation was released on 19 December 2011 in Panaji, in the presence of Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Smt. Manjula Prasher Secretary, Posts, Government of India.
The stamp shows freedom fighters marching with the Indian National flag in the backdrop of the lighthouse of Aguada Fort. The Chief Minister thanked India Post and said the stamp captured the spirit of the  Goa liberation struggle. Aguada and  Reis Magos Fort located across the banks of the river Mandovi from Panaji was built in 1551 by the Portuguese, it was formerly an outpost of the erstwhile empire of the Adil Shah of Bijapur. Freedom dawns on Goa, exactly 50 years ago as Goans hoist the Indian National flag at Adil Shah Palace,  to welcome Goa’s Liberation from the Portuguese colonial rule of 450 years.
 The Indian tricolour on the iconic World War-2 photograph of the US victory in the Battle of Iwo Jima
  One such Fake picture
 The Goan newspapers of 19 December 2011 carried several advertisements on the great occasion of celebrating the golden jubilee which turned out to be a sheer nonsense , it was found the image selected by the Goan Government agencies is a FAKE one.

The advertisement showed Marines holding high the Indian tricolor in an act of triumph.  If you think the newspaper ad. was to glorify and well up patriotism,  you are terribly wrong . In fact the  advertisements considered as an affront to our dignity.

 

In the recent past the same art work  made by some braindeads in the government agencies had revealed  how an immortal photograph that  came to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of American people in World War II in the Pacific had been unashamedly vandalized. The 'Fake art work' was first published  by the Defence Research and Development Organisation  (DRDO - an agency under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India) and now by the Goa Government agencies. The advertisements reduced all of us Indians into a bunch of laughing stocks. It seems Government Departments just won’t learn.

 Heroes of the War in the Pacific

 The US stamp was issued just five months after the Flag-Raising atop Mt. Suribachi in Iwo Jima. On the day of issue, people stood patiently in lines stretching for city blocks on a sweltering July day in 1945 for a chance to buy the beloved stamp. For many years, this was the biggest selling stamp in the history of the US Post Office. (Over 137 million sold.)

 A retouched copy of the original photograph. Issued in 1995 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first Iwo Jima stamp.

During World War II, exactly sixty-seven years ago – U.S. fighting forces displayed extraordinary courage and determination in winning the war in the Pacific. But it was on the island of Iwo Jima that a singular event occurred that would come to symbolize for all time American valour in the long bitter fight against the Japanese. With Japan’s home islands sighted squarely in their minds, as the next target for American warplanes, the U.S. determined that the  volcanic island of Iwo Jima was vital to the US goal. The only island in its region suitable for an airfield. Iwo Jima was already the site of two operational Japanese air strips, when the US Marines began their invasion on 19 February 1945. On February 23 – after clawing their way up Mt. Suribachi  under relentless Japanese fire – Marine raised a small American flag on the summit.
 
The sight of the American flag 'The Old Glory' waving in the breeze evoked cheers from Marines. Offshore, U.S. warships blew their whistles in tribute. Few hours later, as a larger flag was being raised on the Mt. Suribachi, the Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal took the memorable picture of the event and became the most famous of the Pacific war.  

The photograph was extremely popular, being reprinted in thousands of publications and came to be regarded in the United States as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war, and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time.

Flag Day , "Flags on Stamps; Facts File - Part 2"

Issued in 1962 to commemorate 150 years of Argentine Flag

Gen. Manuel Belgrano - the creator of the Flag

To-day June 20, is happened to be Argentine Flag Day.
 The Argentine flag was raised for the first time on February 27, 1812 by Gen. Manuel Belgrano. Legend goes that its creator Gen. Belgrano, was inspired by the colour of the sky or the Virgin’s cloak when he chose its colours. On a rainy day of May 25, 1810, Argentine patriots were demanding freedom from Spain. As they stood about in one city square at the banks of the Paraná River, someone handed out blue and white ribbons (Escarapela). Presently word came to the people that the Viceroy had resigned and at that moment, the Sun burst through the clouds and shone down on the people. In honour of these patriots, the first military flag of Argentina had blue and white stripes. On June 20, 1816 the Congress officially declared the flag designed by Gen. Belgrano as the national symbol. In 1918 the “Sol de Mayo” (Sun of May) was added on the white strip to be used in case of a war. In 1938, June 20 was declared The Flag’s Day and a national holiday, in homage to its creator Gen. Belgrano, who died on June 20, 1820.
(In the year 1920, in commemoration of Gen. Belgrano's centenary of death, Argentina issued a set of three stamps of which the 2c. value depicts the scene of "Creation of Argentine Flag", again on the occasion of  200th. birth centenary of Belgrano in 1970 a set of two stamps was released wherein, the 50c. stamp reproduces the art work of Jose Floravanti's bas-relief "Creation of Argentine Flag").

Flags on Stamps; Facts File. Part -II

World’s smallest Miniature Sheet (Perforate) featuring flags; Fiji

First water-marked paper with 'Flag motif' used for stamp production. India 1854 (4 stamps of denomination 1/2a, 1a, 2as & 4as) 

Flag at half-mast on Stamp; Burma 

Issued in 1948 to commemorate the first anniversary of the assassination of Burma’s leaders in the fight for freedom.

Most Flags at Half-mast on a single Stamp; Bhutan

First Stamp featuring Flags of Foreign Nations USA in 1919 ‘Victory issue’- flags of the Allies (Successful outcome of WW-I)

 First Indian National Flag in stamp issued abroad Rep. of Korea (South Korea) in 1951

First British Stamp to depict “Union Jack” On the shield of “Britania” on the high value Sea-horse issues of 1913.

Flag wrong way up (Up-side
down);Jamaica







This Jamaican stamp was printed the British ‘Union Jack’ up-side down in 1921. But immediately the error was noticed and the flag design was corrected.

The first British stamp to commemorate an overseas leader and the first to be designed by an overseas artist ; Mahatma Gandhi in 1969 using Indian National Colours as back drop of the design (The Indian-born designer of the stamp was Biman Mullick (his autograph appears above). The designer had met Gandhi as a child in Calcutta).

Most celebrated Flag Raising Events of the World

[A] Raising the American Flag over Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima on February 23,1945
( Original photograph by Joe Rosenthal. The US stamp was issued on July 11, 1945. More than 150 million were sold)
[B] Raising the Soviet Red Flag over Reichstags, Berlin.
(There are numerous stamps issued from all over the world depicting the above ‘Flag events’ to mark the end of World War II).

First Stamp to show ‘Lowering of Flag’- Canada

Scouting Year-1983.

(Normaly, we see picturisation of flag raising events on stamps) 

Real 'hole' in Flag Stamp; Hungary issued in 2006

During the Uprising of 1956, the centre ‘Communist Emblen’ was ‘torn out of the Hungarian flag’ by the nationalist patriots but when Communist rule was restored; it was decided to have no 'ARMS’ on the flag.

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I thank Mr. Kenneth Sequeira of Dubai, UAE for bringing to my notice certain factual errors and typographical mistakes that cropped up in the list of Indian flag on foreign stamps published earlier in this blog. I shall issue a corrigendum to the list  in due course along with some more new items.

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