A plaster model of the USMC Memorial by Felix de Weldon, from the collections of the Naval War College Museum. Photo courtesy of Naval War College Museum.
As Victory Day approaches, we are reminded of the iconic Iwo Jima raising of the flag statue at Arlington National Cemetery sculpted by Newport resident Felix de Weldon, owner of Beacon Rock on Harrison Avenue. Felix de Weldon (1907-2003) was an Austrian born heir to a Swiss textile manufacturing fortune. After 1945 he was commissioned by Congress to create a bronze replica of the famous Rosenthal photograph of the flag raising at Mount Suribachi. It was dedicated at Arlington in 1954. Newport residents may recall de Weldon’s “The Bluejacket,” a fiberglass model of a sailor in front of the Seaman’s Church Institute. Funds were never raised to create the bronze statue and the model was moved away to Sampson State Park in Geneva, NY.
Felix de Weldon’s home, Beacon Rock; image from the NHS collections.