Remarkably Monday was the seventieth anniversary of the taking of what is widely viewed as the most famous and iconic World War II photograph, the raising of the American Flag on Iwo Jima.  The image was taken on February 23, 1945 by war photographer Joe Rosenthal.  It carries with it the story that it was posed. Thom Patterson for CNN has set the record straight on this.  As it turns out a first flag was raised, but then it was decided that a larger one should replace it so that it could be seen by fighters below.  It was this second flag-raising that Rosenthal photographed – a rare second chance in the world of missed phot opportunities.  As Patterson aptly points out this image “went viral” by 1945 standards and raised the hopes of a nation that the war might eventually end.

For us, it is the ultimate meme of Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation.” And as all good meme images it takes on a much greater life and much deeper meaning.  It signifies ultimate sacrifice and supreme bravery.  But most significantly it signifies the selfless gift of one generation at one moment in time tosubsequent generations.

It was exactly what Thomas Paine was talking about nearly two centuries earlier (1775-1783):

“These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”