The Marine Corps Memorial
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The Memorial is located at Arlington, VA.
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It was dedicated on November 10, 1954.
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It cost $850,000, and not one bit of it came from the public's
taxes! It was all donated by current and former Marines, Marines
in reserve, friends of the Marine Corps, and members of the Naval Service.
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It was sculptured by Felix de Weldon.
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This memorial is 78 feet tall and weighs 100 tons.
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Their canteens can be filled up with 8 gallons each.
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The figures are armed with 16 foot long M-1 Garand rifles
or 12 foot long M-1 Garand Carbines, and 5 1/2 foot long combat knives.
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The Marine Corps Memorial is the largest bronze statue in
the world. It is 78 feet tall and weighs 100 tons.
Did you know...?
By 1945, the U.S. had
recaptured most of the land that had been taken by the Japanese during
World War II. In order to win the war, the U.S. needed to capture Iwo Jima.
After we captured the island, five
Marines and one Navy corpsman were so happy that they went to the top of
a mountain and raised a large U.S. flag. The photographer of this event
won a Pulitzer Prize. F. Weldon, who was a sculptor and in the Navy,
was so moved when he saw the picture that he created a life-size model
of the picture.
When he was creating the sculpture
he found the three men that were still alive, and they posed as models
for the sculpture. The other three men had died in the war, so he
used their pictures. So those are the real faces of the people who raised
the flag!
Bibliography
Photo Found: http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/images/ima-ship22.html
Information Found:
http://www.mbw.uscm.mil/parades/mcwm.asp
http://www.nps.gov/gwmp/usmc.htm