The Daily Mail in the U.K. is reporting that WWII veterans are furious over next week's cover of TIME and the manipulation of the famous photo of marines raising the United States flag during the battle at Iwo Jima after TIME replaced the flag with a tree for the article, "How to Win The War on Global Warming".
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jimo, photo by Joe RosenthalOne Imo Jima veteran, 81-year-old Donald Mates, felt the Times' cover was "an absolute disgrace" and that "Whoever did this is going to hell." He went to say it was a "mortal sin".
Why would veterans be upset about TIME magazine essentially photoshopping, or digitally altering a photo, albeit a rather famous one from so long ago?
We decided to take a look back at the history of the photographer and the photo that spoke more than a thousand words.
World War II, the Battle of Iwo Jima, and Joe Rosenthal
Joe Rosenthal was a photojournalist in San Francisco when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Joe had been classified 4-F which meant he couldn't be drafted due to physical limitations. Joe, with his nearsightedness and thick bi-focal glasses, enlisted in the U.S. Maritime Service after a friend waived the eye exam.
In 1944 Joe managed to obtain his credentials as an Associated Press war photographer where he was shipped out to the Pacific and covered the United States' invasions of Peleliu, Angaur, and Hollandia.
February 19, 1945
Iwo Jima was the single most bloody battle of the Pacific War, a battle that lasted thirty days and ended in the deaths of over 6,000 Americans and 20,000 Japanese on a volcanic island the size of eight square miles.
Read more Time Magazine: WWII Veterans Angered Over Cover Photo at DBKP.com
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page