Felix de Weldon, whose imposing sculpture of marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima became an emblem of the Marine Corps, died on June 2 in Woodstock, Va. He was 96.

Mr. de Weldon made more than 2,000 other public sculptures, including one of Admiral Richard E. Byrd in Antarctica. He created at least three monuments in 44 of the 50 states, ranging from busts of Presidents Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy at their presidential libraries to one of Elvis Presley in Memphis.

But he was most noted for his Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va., honoring the more than 6,000 Americans killed and 25,000 wounded in the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. More than 100 million people have visited it since it was dedicated in 1954.

The memorial weighs more than 100 tons and is one of the largest bronze-cast statues in the world. The M-1 rifle carried by one of the figures is 16 feet long.

Mr. de Weldon was born in Vienna, the son of a textile manufacturer. As a boy, he was inspired when he saw a nude woman posing for a sculptor; the sculptor let him make his own likeness of the woman. His parents heartily disapproved, so he switched to sculptures of lions.

Mr. de Weldon received advanced degrees from the University of Vienna and studied in Rome, Paris and Madrid before settling in London, where he did busts of royalty. He came to the United States by way of Canada, after a six-week tour around the nation in the 1930's in his 12-cylinder Rolls-Royce convertible.

He enlisted in the Navy during World War II and was a combat artist stationed at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. On Feb. 23, 1945, he was captivated by a photograph transmitted by the Associated Press wire. It was Joe Rosenthal's picture of marines raising a flag at Iwo Jima, an image that soon became famous.

Soon after seeing the photograph, Mr. de Weldon began working on it on his own in a nonstop spurt of three days, improvising his material by mixing soft Johnson's floor wax with hard sealing wax. When his finished work was wheeled into the office of the Marine Corps commandant, the man was so impressed that he transferred Mr. de Weldon into the Marine Corps.

A nine-foot model of the statue was produced for Treasury war bond rallies and was displayed for years in various locations. After Mr. de Weldon left the service, a joint resolution of Congress gave him memorial commission.

Mr. de Weldon is survived by his wife, Joyce, two sons and a sister. He lived for many years on a 12-acre estate in Newport, R.I., among other homes, but moved to Mount Jackson, Va., in 2000.

Mr. de Weldon worked in a coat and tie. Though he hired mechanics and mold-makers to fabricate large works, he had an emphatic answer when asked how many sculptors he employed: ''My 10 fingers.''