US Marine who commanded unit pictured in iconic Iwo Jima photograph dies, aged 102

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Colonel Dave Severance, the commander of an American marine company who raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi at the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during the Second World War, has died at the age of 102 at his home in the La Jolla area of San Diego. Rosenthal captured the moment six marines, led by Col Severance, mounted a giant American flag at the mountain top on 23 February 1945, to replace a smaller flag that was already planted by the marines. In an interview in February 2021 with Coffee or Die magazine, Col Severance said he did not realise how iconic the photograph had become in the US, until the 1949 film The Sands of Iwo Jima came out. Almost 7,000 Marines died on Iwo Jima, according to the National World War II Museum, with another 20,000 wounded.