Item no. C248 (cancel)
Type: cancel
Country: USA
Date of use: 30 June 2001
Special cancel on cover commemorating the Commissioning Day of the Wasp-class Amphibious Assault Ship USS IWO JIMA, realized in Pensacola (Florida, USA), a large United States Naval Air Station. The ship was named for Battle of Iwo Jima of World War II. The cancel presents an outline of 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.