The Iwo Jima flag is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken by news photographer Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. It depicts five Marines and one Navy corpsman raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi in Iwo Jima. Of the six flag raisers featured in the photo, three died in battle soon after the photo was taken (Michael Strank, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley), and the others (John Bradley, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon) became national heroes within weeks. The photograph inspired a 32-foot high memorial depicting the six flag raisers and a 60-foot bronze flagpole. Since 1961 the flag has been flown 24 hours a day, in accordance with a Presidential proclamation. The monument stands at the entrance of Arlington National Cemetery.