Item no. C278 (cancel)
Type: cancel
Country: USA
Date of use: 23 February 1971
Special CTO cancel (on cover), used to honor US marines fighting at Iwo Jima with the caption: “Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue”. The cancel’s design is based on a photograph by Associated Press photojournalist JOE ROSENTHAL (1911 - 2006) "Raising the US flag on the island Iwo Jima, at the Mount Suribachi", taken on 23 February 1945. Joe Rosental was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for this iconic photograph in 1945.