Louis R. "Lou" Lowery (July 24, 1916 – April 15, 1987) was a United States Marine Corps photographer best known for taking the first flag-raising photograph on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. The first American flag raised and planted on Iwo Jima was too small to be seen easily from the nearby landing beaches, so a second, larger replacement flag with a longer and heavier flag pole was raised and planted by five Marines and a Navy corpsman resulting in the famous photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in 1945.