The Portland Sea Dogs will honor fallen soldiers on Memorial Day by wearing uniforms depicting a famous World War II image. The iconic photo, “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima,” which was taken February 23, 1945, features six US Marines on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima—notable because it was the first occasion during the war that Japanese land was captured by the Americans.
The photo, taken by Joe Rosenthal, was the first ever to win the Pulitzer in the same year that it was taken, and became the basis for the Marine Corps Memorial, which was sculpted in 1954 and resides in Arlington, Virginia.
The jerseys will be worn for the Sea Dogs’ Memorial Day game against the Reading Fightin Phils, and then auctioned off to benefit the Travis Mills Foundation, which assists wounded veterans and their families.