The Iwo Jima Memorial In Washington, D.C.
The Iwo Jima Memorial In Washington, D.C.
The picture of the six young men raising the American flag on the island of Iwo Jima on February 23,1945, during W.W. ll, is one of the most famous pictures in the world.The front four men are (left to right) Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, John Bradley and Harlon Block. The back two are Michael Strank (behind Sousley) and Rene Gagnon (behind Bradley). Chances are nearly everyone who reads this has seen this famous photograph at one time or another at least once, but most probably don't know the story behind the picture. After you read this I don't believe you'll ever see this picture again without thinking of the six brave young men who raised the American flag that day on Mt. Suribachi because they wanted their fellow comrades in arms to see it, believing it would give them the courage to fight on despite the sight of their buddies falling all around them.
Mike was their leader and it was he who got the order to climb Mt. Suribachi. Mike picked his "boys" and led them safely to the top. A smaller American flag had already been raised earlier there but Mike explained to the boys that the larger flag had to be raised so that "every American fighting man on Iwo could see it." It was Mike who gave the orders to find a pole, attach the flag and "put'er up!" Mike's right hand is the only hand of a flag raiser not on the pole. His right hand is around the wrist of Franklin Sousley, helping the younger man push the heavy pole. This was typical of Mike, he was the oldest of the flag raisers and was always there to help one of his boys. Two months before the battle Mike's Captain tried to promote him but Mike turned it down flat: "I trained those boys and I'm going to be with them in battle," he said. Mike died on March 1,
1945. He was fatally wounded by a mortar as he was diagramming a plan in the sand for his boys, he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
HARLON BLOCK
Born 1924, Yourtown, Texas
Died 1945 Iwo Jima, Japan
Harlon was an all-state football player. He enlisted in the Marine Corps with all the senior members of his football team. They were off to play another type of game. A game called "War." But it didn't turn out to be a game.
Harlon was Sgt. Mike's second-in-command. He took over the leadership of his unit when Sgt. Mike was killed. Harlon was killed by a mortar blast just a few hours later on March 1 at the age of 21, he died with his intestines in his hands. When his mother Belle saw the Flag Raising Photo in the Weslaco Newspaper on Feb. 25, she exclaimed, "That's Harlon" pointing to the figure on the far right. But the US Government mis-identified the figure as Harry Hansen of Boston. Belle never wavered in her belief that it was Harlon insisting, "I know my boy." No one, not her family, neighbors, the Government, or the public, had any reason to believe her. But eighteen months later in a sensational front page story, a Congressional investigation revealed that it was Harlon in the photo, proving that indeed, Belle did "know her boy." Harlon is buried beside the Iwo Jima Monument in Harlingen, Texas.
FRANKLIN SOUSLEY
Born Sept. 19, 1925, Hilltop, KY.
Died March 21,1945, Iwo Jima, Japan
Franklin was a red haired freckle faced kid who was raised on a Kentucky tobacco farm. Fatherless at 9, Franklin became the main man in his mother's life. He enlisted at 17 and sailed for the Pacific on his 18th Birthday. All that's left of Franklin is a few pictures and two letters Franklin wrote home to his mother:
July 1944, Letter from Training Camp: "Mother, you said you were sick. I want you to stay in out of that field and look real pretty when I come home. You can grow a crop of tobacco every summer, but I sure as hell can't grow another mother like you."
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Feb. 27, 1945 Letter from Iwo Jima:
"My regiment took the hill with our company on the front line. The hill was hard, and I sure never expected war to be like it was those first 4 days. Mother, you can never imagine how a battlefield looks. It sure looks horrible. Look for my picture because I helped put up the flag. Please don't worry and write."
Franklin was the last flag raiser to die on Iwo Jima, on March 21 at the age of 19. When word reached his mother that Franklin was dead, "You could hear her screaming clear across the fields at the neighbor's farm."
Franklin is buried at Elizaville Cemetery, Kentucky.
IRA HAYES
Born January 12, 1923 Sacaton, Arizona
Died January 24, 1955 Bapchule, Arizona
Ira Hayes was a Pima Indian. When he enlisted in the Marine Corps, he had hardly ever been off the Reservation. His Chief told him to be an "Honorable Warrior" and bring honor upon his family. Ira was a dedicated Marine, quiet and steady, he was admired by his fellow Marines who fought alongside him in three Pacific battles. Ira was horrified when President Roosevelt called him and the other two survivors to go on a War Bond Tour to help raise money for the war. To Ira the heroes of Iwo Jima, those deserving honor, were his "good buddies" who died there. Later in a ceremony at the White House, President Truman told Ira, "You are an American hero." But Ira didn't feel like a hero and he often said so. "How could I feel like a hero when only five men in my platoon of 45 survived, when only 27 men in my company of 250 managed to escape death or injury?" He couldn't understand or accept the adulation he received everywhere he went on the War Bond Tour. "It was supposed to be soft duty, but I couldn't take it. Everywhere we went people shoved drinks in our hands and said 'You're a Hero!' We knew we hadn't done that much but you couldn't tell them that." Ira Hayes died dead drunk at the age of 32, ten years after this famous photograph was taken. He was found frozen to death, face down in a ditch.
RENE GAGNON
Born Manchester, N.H. March 7, 1925
Died Manchester, N.H. October 12, 1979
Rene Gagnon was the youngest survivor and the man who carried the flag up Mt. Suribachi. He was the first survivor to arrive back in the US. He always carried a picture of his girlfriend back home in the webbing of his helmet for good luck.
JOHN BRADLEY
Born July 10, 1923 Antigo, WI.
Died January 11, 1994 Antigo, WI.
"Doc" Bradley was a Navy Corpsman medic who "just jumped in to lend a hand." He later won the Navy Cross for heroism and was wounded in both legs. He was a quiet private man who gave just one interview in his life. In it he said: "People refer to us as heroes,I personally don't look at it that way. I just think that I happened to be at a certain place at a certain time and anybody on that island could have been there. We certainly weren't heroes, and I speak for the rest of them as well, that's the way they thought of themselves also." So that's the story about six nice young boys. Three died on Iwo Jima , and three came back as national heroes. Overall, 6,821 American boys died on Iwo Jima in the worst battle in the history of the Marine Corps, 5,931 were Marines. Total American casualties was approximately 25,000.
PHOTOGRAPHER JOE ROSENTHAL
Joe Rosenthal's career in photography spanned over half a century; the images he has captured on film have touched the lives of many He will be remembered by all who knew him for his humbling demeanor and gentle nature. Joseph J. Rosenthal was named an honorary Marine April 13, 1996, by former commandant, Gen. Charles C. Krulak, for his world renowned photograph of five Marines and one Navy corpsman raising the American Flag high atop Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima Feb. 23, 1945.
On Sept. 15, 2006, Rosenthal was honored again by his fellow Marines in a ceremony at the Marines Memorial Club and Hotel in San Francisco to posthumously award him with the Distinguished Public Service Medal. Rosenthal was 33 years old working for the Assosociated Press when he took the picture that would become the most famous picture of that war, and perhaps the most viewed picture in history. The picture would become synonymous with the United States Marine Corps.
February---2007
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