Louis R. Lowery

Who was Louis R. Lowery?

Louis R. "Lou" Lowery was a United States Marine Corps photographer best known for taking the first flag-raising photograph on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. The first American flag raised and planted on Iwo Jima was too small to be seen easily from the nearby landing beaches, so a second, larger replacement flag with a longer and heavier flag pole was raised and planted by five Marines and a Navy corpsman resulting in the famous photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in 1945.

He was the founder and former president of the United States Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association. He also was a photographic director of Leatherneck Magazine, a publication of the Marine Corps.

Lowery died on April 15, 1987 at age 70 from aplastic anemia. He is buried in Quantico National Cemetery in Prince William County, Virginia. He was portrayed by actor David Hornsby in the 2006 film Flags of Our Fathers.