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The Marine Corps War Memorial is a military memorial statue located adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, U.S.A. The memorial is dedicated to all personnel of the U.S. Marine Corps who have died in the defense of the United States since 1775.

The bronze statue depicts the raising of the American flag atop Mount Suribachi at the southern tip of the island of Iwo Jima on February 23 1945 during the Battle of Iwo Jima. It is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph " Raising the Flag on Iwo JimaRaising the Flag on Iwo Jima is a famous photograph, taken on 23 February 1945 by Joe Rosenthal. It depicts five U. Marines and one US Navy medical corpsman raising a United States flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II." by war photographer Joe RosenthalJoe Rosenthal (born October 9, 1911) was a American photographer, who received the Pulitzer Prize for his World War II iconic portrait of American troops raising the flag on Mount Suribachi after the Battle of Iwo Jima. Rejected by the army as a photograp. Felix W. de WeldonFelix de Weldon was a sculptor based in the United States. Bronze of Senator Bob Bartlett in the National Statuary Hall De Weldon's Life Born on April 12 1907 in Vienna, Austria, during the 1920s de Weldon joined artist's communes in France, Italy and Spa, a sculptor who was serving with the U.S. NavyThe United States Navy USN is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. Navy consists of slightly fewer than 300 ships and over 4,000 operational aircraft. It has over a half million men and women on active or ready re was inspired to reproduce the photograph as a model and later a life-sized statue.

In 1951Events January events January 9 United Nations headquarters officially opens ( New York City). January 15 Ilse Koch, The "Witch of Buchenwald," wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment in a court in We work commenced on creating a cast bronze memorial based on the statue, with the figures 10 metres (32 feet) tall and the flagpole 20 metres (60 feet) long. The granite base of the memorial bears two inscriptions:

• "In honor and in memory of the men of the United States Marine Corps who have given their lives to their country since November 10, 1775."
• "Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue." - a tribute by AdmiralThe word admiral comes from the Arabic term amir-al-bahr meaning "commander of the seas. Crusaders learned the term during their encounters with the Arabs, perhaps as early as the 11th century. The Sicilians and later Genoese took the first two parts of t Chester NimitzChester William Nimitz ( February 24, 1885 February 20, 1966) was the Commander in Chief of Pacific Forces for the United States and Allied forces during World War II. He was the nation's leading authority on submarines, as well as Chief of the Navy Burea to the fighting men on Iwo Jima.

The base also lists the location and date of every major Marine Corps engagement.

The memorial was officially dedicated by President Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower ( October 14, 1890 March 28, 1969), American soldier and politician, was the 34th President of the United States ( 1953 1961) and supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, with the rank of General on 10th November, 1954, the 179th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps.

In 1961 President John F. Kennedy issued a proclamation that a U.S. Flag should fly from the memorial 24 hours a day.

The original plaster working model of the statue currently stands in Harlingen, Texas at the Marine Military Academy, a private Marine Corps-inspired youth military academy.