SAN FRANCISCO -- Joe Rosenthal, a p...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Joe Rosenthal, a photographer whose Pulitzer Prize-winning image of World War II servicemen raising an American flag athwart Iwo Jima became the gauge for the Marine Corps War Memorial, has died. He was 94

Mr Rosenthal, who took the iconic photograph forward Feb. 23, 1945, while working for the Associated Pres died Sunday of natural causes at an assisted living facility in suburban Novato, said his daughter, Anne Rosenthal.

"He was a well adapted and honest man. He had real integrity," she said.

He was also unobtrusive Mr. Rosenthal preferred in his character as a combat photographer to chronicle the experiences of soldiers forward the front lines, and liked to call himself "a stay who was up in the big leagues for a beaker of coffee at one time."

ENDLES solicitation FOR REPRINTS

A decade after the flag-raising, he recalled that he did not realize he had shooter anything special until days later when the congratulations started pouring in.

"Out of the corner of my estimate I had seen the men start the flag up I swung my camera and discharge the scene," he said a decade afterward. "That is for what reason the picture was taken, and when you take a picture like that, you don't follow away saying you got a great ball You don't know."

The photo quickly became the bring under rule of posters, war-bond drives and a U postage stamp. It kept Mr Rosenthal busy for years as he fielded entreatys for reprints. He said he was flattered by the agency of the attention, but added, "I'd rather just lie down and listen to a ball game."

Located 750 miles toward the south of Tokyo, the small Pacific island of Iwo Jima was important to as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but Japan and the United States during World War II.

After 30000 Marines landed there forward Feb. 19, 1945, it took four days for a contingent to scale rise Suribachi, the highest point. More than 6800 U servicemen died in the five-week battle for the island, and the 21,000-man Japanese defense force was virtually wiped disclosed

any CLAIM SHOT WAS POSED

Mr Rosenthal's shutter captured the secondary raising of the flag in succession Mount Suribachi after the Marines decided the first flag was too small. Mr Rosenthal later wrote that he almost didn't climb the summit when he learned a flag already had been raised.

"What I descry behind the photo is what it took to earn up to those heights -- the kind of devotion to their fatherland that those young men had, and the sacrifices they made," he said. "I take one gratification in being a little part of what the U stands for."

Besides being awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 the photo made No. 68 forward a 1999 New York University inspect of the best 100 examples of journalism from the 20th hundred Sculptor Felix W. de Weldon used it as the pattern for the Marine Corps memorial, dedicated in 1954 near Arlington National burial-ground in Virginia to commemorate Marines who have died in the line of toll

Mr Rosenthal nevertheless had to vindicate the photograph against claims that the secondary flag raising he shot was staged for his camera. He said that if he had pos it, "I would, of course, have ruined it" by way of choosing fewer men and making never-failing their faces could be seen

His account was later maintained by a frame captured on a military cameraman, Marine Sgt Bill Genaust, who filmed the same flag- raising.

INSPIRED FAMOUS 9/11 PHOTO

The picture later inspired Thomas E Franklin of The Record of Bergen shire N.J., to photograph three firefighters raising a flag amid the ruins of the World Trade Center in succession Sept. 11, 2001. Franklin's photo, distributed worldwide on the AP, was a finalist in 2002 for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking of the present days photography.

Rosenthal left the AP later in 1945 to join the San Francisco Chronicle, where he worked as a photographer for 35 years before retiring.

"He was short in stature on the other hand that was about it. He had a division of nerve," said John O'Hara, a retired photographer who worked with Mr Rosenthal at the Chronicle.

O'Hara said Mr Rosenthal took special pride in a certificate naming him an honorary Marine and remained dapper and alert well into his 90

throw de Caro, a former combat reporter for CNN who knew Mr Rosenthal for 30 years, noted his older friend's humility and commitment to his craft. steady after glaucoma affected his eyesight, Mr Rosenthal not at all hesitated to share war stories and his contacts in as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but San Francisco and the Marines.

"He had gone in consequence of so much history that was sort of obscur on the Iwo Jima photo, and he was highly matter-of-fact about it," de Caro said.

'POINT AND PRES THE SHUTTER'

Born in Washington, DC onward Oct. 9, 1911, Mr. Rosenthal took up photography as a wooden horse During the Depression, he mov to San Francisco, living with a brother until he set a job with the Newspaper Enterprise Association in 1930

In 1932 Mr Rosenthal joined the of long date San Francisco News as a combination reporter and photographer.

"They just told me to take this big receptacle and point the end with the glass toward the make subordinate and press the shutter and 'We'll describe you what you did wrong' " he said.