Images of Heroes

Synonyms

Heroic paintings and drawings

Definition

Heroic photographs are iconic images of heroic acts which often create two types of heroes, the subjects of the photograph and the photographers themselves.

On February 23, 1945, six US marines leaned into a 100-pound pipe to drive it and the flag tied atop it into the rocky soil atop Mount Suribachi, a volcanic cone rising from the south end of Iwo Jima. On the sandy, carpet-bombed-and-cannon-shelled wasteland below, tens of thousands of compatriots battled with as many Japanese soldiers for control of the eight-square-mile Pacific island. It was the fourth day of a battle that would last a month more, kill nearly 7000 Americans, and wound 20,000. Another 20,000 Japanese died defending the ground. A photograph of this moment appeared on newspaper front pages across the USA in the following days, unfurling the flagging morale of the country as forces closed in on Japan that year. The image launched a $26-billion war bond drive and...