Marine Corps War Memorial, Military monument in Arlington, United States.
The Marine Corps War Memorial is a bronze sculpture group of six soldiers in helmets and combat gear, leaning and pushing together to raise a flagpole diagonally on a base of rough, jagged rocks in reddish and gray tones. The figures stand 32 feet (9.8 m) tall, cast from a plaster master model made by Felix de Weldon. The sculpture sits on a base of black diabase granite from Lönsboda, Sweden, and a cloth U.S. flag hangs from the top of the pole.
The memorial depicts five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. This scene is based on a famous photo by Joe Rosenthal that became a symbol of World War II.
The granite base lists every conflict in which Marines have fought since 1775, along with the dates and places. It also carries Admiral Chester Nimitz's tribute to the Iwo Jima fighters: "Uncommon Valor Was a Common Virtue." The memorial is the centerpiece of the Marine Barracks' weekly Sunset Parade, with its Drum and Bugle Corps and Silent Drill Platoon.
The grounds are open daily from 6 AM until midnight and are located about a ten-minute walk from Rosslyn Metro station. The area around the monument is spacious and offers room for different viewing angles of the sculpture.
The memorial's flagpole is a separate 60-foot (18 m) staff added to the sculpture when it was shipped back to Arlington in a three-truck convoy. The granite base comes from a quarry in Lönsboda, Sweden, and bears the dates and places of every Marine Corps engagement since 1775. A persistent rumor held that de Weldon carved a thirteenth hand; he replied: "Thirteen hands. Who needs thirteen hands? Twelve were enough."
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