Sunday marks 80 years since six U.S. Marines raised the American flag on Iwo Jima.

The moment captured an iconic Pulitzer Prize winning photograph by photographer Joe Rosenthal.

40 years later, Rosenthal would travel to Kentucky for a ceremony honoring one of the six flag raisers.

Kentuckian Frank Lee.

Bill Kight was assigned to capture that event in pictures for The Courier Journal.

Kight says he was moved by Rosenthal's iconic photo as a child and was thrilled when he got the opportunity to spend time after the event with Rosenthal.

He also says Rosenthal shared why he thought the picture resonated with so many people.

The flag raising photograph was on the dust cover of a book in our house when I was just a kid, it just spoke to me.

What I remember about the ceremony that day at Eliza ville was that Joe spoke only about the Marines.

He never said anything about himself.

The only thing that he ever said that involved him was I took the photo, the Marine Corps took Iwo Jima and Franklin.

Susan Lee's mother was right there at his right side.

Now, for me, it was an iconic moment because I had admired that photograph ever since I was a child.

And there was Joe Rosenthal right in front of me.

And to be honest with you, I was thinking, don't screw this up.

One of the most famous photographers known to mankind, Donald, screwed this up.

So after the ceremony was over about, you know, I don't know, maybe a half a dozen or so of the people that were there to see the ceremony went up to Joe, and Joe greeted every one of them individually, spoke to them, and then won.

The last one walked away.

Joe turned to me, extended his hand and said, You're in the business, aren't you?

And that was such a thrill.

And a freelance photographer who actually was there to pick me up at the airport, he had his camera and he captured that moment.

And the Marine Corps officers there noticed the kind of connection between Joe and I and invited me to attend a dinner that they were having for Joe that night in Louisville.

Joe and I kind of snuck off to a table off to the side and we spent a good 20 to 30 minutes.

And he gave me the photographer photographer account of that day.

And then he signed my my book.

That photograph in my book.

And I that's one of my cherished possessions.

One of the things that Joe related to me, that why he thought that picture resonates with so many people is it's anonymity.

You cannot tell who those men are.

They represent all of the 400,000 soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen that died in World War Two.

I just think that there's a lot of Kentuckians that don't know that one of the flag raisers was from Kentucky, one of their own, Franklin Souza Lee was in that picture and then later died on On New Jima.

I just want people in Kentucky to know about Franklin Souza and about Joe Rosenthal and their connection that Joe Rosenthal, 73 years old, traveled all the way from San Francisco to little Eliza ville, Kentucky, to honor Franklin.

Susan Lee.

It's just one of those moments that I'll never forget.

Memorable, indeed.

An interesting fact, Joe Rosenthal applied to join the U.S. Army as a military photographer, but was rejected because of his poor eyesight.

Rosenthal died in 2006 at the age of 94.