The US Marine Corps Memorial stands in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA, on the southern bank of the Potomac River across from Washington D.C. The bronze statue is the work of Felix W. de Weldon, who modelled it on the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of Joe Rosenthal. In the famous war picture, Marines are raising the American flag in Iwo Jima, a small island in the Pacific, which was occupied after heavy fighting in March 1945. The Memorial was dedicated in 1954, and it commemorates all the Marines who sacrificed their life for their country since 1775.