History has not been kind to Army Pfc. George Burns or Marine Sgt. Louis Burmeister.
Both military photographers were on Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945, when six U.S. warriors raised the Stars and Stripes to alert the world that the bloody battle of Iwo Jima was all but won. And both claimed they took their own versions of the iconic shot that won Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal a Pulitzer Prize.
That's where military history becomes mystery. The photos they said they shot have never been seen by the public and may be forever lost. Or perhaps they never existed, which is the Marine Corps' explanation.
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