On February 23, 1945 during the Battle of Iwo Jima, Joe Rosenthal took a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph called the "Raising of the Flag on Iwo Jima". This Memorial depicts bronze statues of United States Marines raising the American Flag atop Mount Suribachi. The 108-piece statue took 3 years to complete and its $850,000 price tag was paid in full by donations. On June 12, 1961, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed that an American flag should fly 24 hours a day on the statues 60 foot flagpole. The Iwo Jima Memorial is dedicated to the 6,841 men who died during the battle.