From a chapter of the forthcoming book by Rodney Hilton Brown entitled,
“The IWO JIMA SCULPTOR: FELIX DE WELDON - The Man and His Monuments”

Rodney Hilton Brown's quest to find the first Iwo Jima sculpture and original monument began with a photograph and a dream -- literally. In de Weldon’s living room he saw a photograph of the small 4 ft. flag raising model created by de Weldon, during the battle. "I had a dream one night about it and I knew it still existed," said Brown. "But no one really could remember where it was, not even de Weldon. His last memory was that it was “thrown away." All the author could go on was its last known whereabouts, which according to the sculptor, was in his abandoned sculpture studio in Washington, D.C.

In the course of writing his biography on Felix de Weldon, Brown learned about this abandoned building which the sculptor had used as a studio during and after World War II. Brown was led to the building during his interviews of the artist and his “Indiana Jones-Like” quest to find the very first legendary sculpture de Weldon made of the famous flag raising. Brown found the building, discovered it was a mess and that some holes in the roof had allowed so much water to leak in that many of the floor boards had rotted away. Buried in the mud below the broken floor boards was the original crude 4 ft. sculpture Brown had been looking for. It took almost a week and some help (from a local Marine) to dig it out of the mud and find 3 missing heads. Brown’s crew spent more than a week meticulously pulling pieces of the sculpture from its muddy grave. There were actually several of them and after collecting all of the pieces, they were transported to the Sculpture House workshop in Princeton, N.J. where the arduous task of restoring them began. Of course, even though the author rescued them, they were not free. He still had to purchase them from de Weldon and pay for the restoration.

But the expedition was not over. After looking around the yard behind the building, Brown saw a tarp covering a large object that was resting in the dirt and covered by fallen trees. He cut open the tarp and there it was! To Brown, his discovery of the original 10-ton Iwo Jima Monument was better than finding the Lost Ark. The monument was in pretty bad shape after sitting there for more than 40 years. Several heads were severely damaged; parts of the plaster and cement statue had completely crumbled away leaving the exposed steel skeletons of the figures and gaping holes riddled the entire sculpture.

The author purchased the Monument from de Weldon in 1990, and single-handedly undertook and funded its restoration over the next 5 years. It was restored at Sculpture House Castings in Princeton, N.J., one of the nation’s oldest sculpture foundries. He found the monument’s original supervising sculptor, Bill Petsco, who had worked on it as foreman for de Weldon during World War II, living in nearby Queens, NY. Bill was coaxed out of retirement to assist in the restoration. Brown also received oversight in the restoration from de Weldon himself who was still alive at the time.

As costs mounted, Brown admitted that at times, even he was skeptical of the whole endeavor and was told by numerous people working on the project that it would have been a lot cheaper to just make a brand new monument than to restore the old original.

But, despite the cost and difficulties, Brown never entertained the thought of quitting. “Some people thought I was crazy,” says Brown. “And I am. I’m crazy for my country, and I am crazy about my Marine Corps and what they did on that stinking volcanic hellhole called Iwo Jima. This is THE original Iwo Jima Monument, and it has to be saved. It is one of our country’s national treasures."

The painstaking restoration was done using period photographs of the statue supplied by the National Archives and de Weldon. Eventually, after five years of labor the restoration was complete. Brown’s agreement with the artist was that he would not only buy the broken monument and have it restored at his own expense, but that he would also re-unveil it for the American public for the 50-year Anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima. That promised was fulfilled when the newly restored monument was unveiled at the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum in New York to honor the 50-year anniversary of the U.S. Marines raising the U.S. Flag on Iwo Jima.

Description and Specifications

Title: The Iwo Jima Monument
Artist: Felix De Weldon
Subject: The U.S. Marines raising the American Flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima Island in the Pacific on February 19, 1945 during the Marines’ bloodiest battle of World War II.
Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist by the author.
Material: Cast Stone over a Steel Skeleton.
Dimensions: Height (with flag) 20 Ft.
Height (without flag) 12 Ft.
Length: 18 Ft.
Width 9 Ft.
Weight – 10,000 lbs.
Date of manufacture: 1945

Next... Felix de Weldon builds Original Iwo Jima Monument at his own expense