marine who raised the flag at iwo jima
History of the United States Marine Corps


During the battle for Iwo Jima, photographer Joe Rosenthal took the famous photo "Raising of the Flag on Iwo Jima" of five Marines and one Navy corpsman raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi. Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, who had come ashore earlier that day to observe the progress of the troops, said of the flag raising on Iwo Jima, "...the raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years." The acts of the Marines during the war added to
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Battle of Iwo Jima


that the flag belonged to the 2nd Battalion 28th Marines, who had captured that section of the island. Johnson sent Pfc. Rene Gagnon, a messenger for E Company, to take a second larger flag up the volcano to replace the first flag. This replacement flag was attached to another heavy water pipe and six marines proceeded to raise it into place. It was during this "second" flag-raising that Joseph Rosenthal took his exceptionally famous photograph "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima". The flag flew on Mount
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Michael Strank


Michael Strank (November 10, 1919 – March 1, 1945) was a United States Marine Corps Sergeant who was killed in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. He is best known for being one of the six flag-raisers who helped raise the second U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945 as shown in the iconic photograph "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima". The Marine Corps War Memorial located in Arlington, Virginia, which was modeled after the flag-raising photograph,
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Franklin Sousley


Franklin Runyon Sousley (September 19, 1925 – March 21, 1945) was a United States Marine who was killed in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. He is best known for being one of the six flag-raisers who helped raise the second U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945 as shown in the iconic photograph "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima". The Marine Corps War Memorial located in Arlington, Virginia, which was modeled after the flag-raising photograph, depicts
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Harold Schultz


Harold Henry Schultz (January 28, 1925 – May 16, 1995) was a United States Marine corporal who helped raise the second U.S. flag (a replacement flag) on top of Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. The Marine Corps announced on June 23, 2016, that Schultz is one of the flag-raisers in Joe Rosenthal's iconic photograph "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima". The Marine Corps also stated after reviewing the identities of the six
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Flags of Our Fathers (film)


War II, criticized director Clint Eastwood for not depicting black Marines in "Flags of Our Fathers". Citing historical accuracy, Eastwood responded that his film was specifically about the Marines who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima, pointing out that while black Marines did fight at Iwo Jima, the U.S. military was segregated during World War II, and none of the men who raised the flag was black. Eastwood believed Lee was using the comments to promote "Miracle at St. Anna" and angrily said that Lee should
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Spike Lee


" about an all-black U.S. division fighting in Italy during World War II, criticized director Clint Eastwood for not depicting black Marines in his own World War II film, "Flags of Our Fathers". Citing historical accuracy, Eastwood responded that his film was specifically about the Marines who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima, pointing out that while black Marines did fight at Iwo Jima, the U.S. military was racially segregated during World War II, and none of the men who raised the flag were black.
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Henry Oliver Hansen


flag was raised on Mount Suribachi. Hansen and the four other flag-raisers who were killed on Iwo Jima were buried in the 5th Marine Division cemetery on the island. Sgt. Genaust was killed in action on March 4 in a Japanese cave on Iwo Jima, his remains are still missing. The battle of Iwo Jima officially ended on March 26, 1945. Hansen's final burial was at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific near Honolulu on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The battle of Iwo Jima was over
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Rene Gagnon


René Arthur Gagnon (March 7, 1925 – October 12, 1979) was a United States Marine Corps corporal who participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. He is best known for being one of the six Marines who helped raise the second of two U.S. flags atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, as shown in the iconic photograph "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima". In 1954, the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, was modeled after the famous photograph of the second
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Louis R. Lowery


and Pvt. Bob Campbell after the first flag was raised. While Lowery was coming down Suribachi, he met and informed Rosenthal and the two Marine photographers about the first flag raising. On March 14, by orders of General Smith, another flag was officially raised on the northern end of Iwo Jima which signaled the island was occupied and the flag on Mount Suribachi was taken down. The battle of Iwo Jima was officially over on March 26. Lowery took several black and white photographs on Iwo Jima including photographs of the first
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Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest


of Leyte. The story concludes with the Battle of Iwo Jima, which is the shortest scenario in the game. It is completed by sending five Marines to the southern tip of the Island. This refers to the famous image of US Marines raising the flag of the United States at Mount Suribachi. "See Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" This campaign is told from the perspective of the Kwan Do family, an influential family who claim to be descendants of the Qin Dynasty, and is split into two parts. Part
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Ralph Ignatowski


Iwo Jima. For more than 70 years, Bradley was considered to be one of the six persons who raised the American flag on top of Mount Suribachi in Joe Rosenthal's photo "Raising the flag on Iwo Jima" when he was not (on June 23, 2016, the Marine Corps announced that John Bradley was not in the famous flag-raising photo); he was involved with helping to secure both the flag's flagstaffs put up on windy Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945. Service record: Private Ignatowski
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is an iconic photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945 which depicts six United States Marines raising a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. The photograph was first published in Sunday newspapers on February 25, 1945. It was extremely popular and was reprinted in thousands of publications. Later, it became the only photograph to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its publication, and came to be regarded in the United States
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Ira Hayes


in the Bougainville and Iwo Jima campaigns in the Pacific Theatre of Operations. On February 23, 1945, he helped to raise an American flag over Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, an event photographed by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press. Hayes and the other five flag-raisers became national heroes as a result. In 1946, he was instrumental in revealing the identity of one of the other pictured Marines, who was killed in action on Iwo Jima. However, Hayes was never comfortable with his fame, and after his
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Sands of Iwo Jima


subject of a film biography, "The Outsider", and Bradley the subject of a book by his son James, "Flags of Our Fathers". Also appearing as themselves are 1st Lt. Harold Schrier, who led the flag-raising patrol up Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima and helped raise the first flag, Col. David M. Shoup, later Commandant of the Marine Corps and recipient of the Medal of Honor at Tarawa, and Lt. Col. Henry P. "Jim" Crowe, commander of the 2nd Battalion
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Battle of Iwo Jima


. "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" is a black and white photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal depicting six Marines from E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, raising a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, in the second of two flag-raisings on the site that day. The photograph was extremely popular, being reprinted in thousands of publications. Later, it became the only photograph to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its publication, and ultimately came to be regarded
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


a heroic action in March while in command of D Company, 2/28 Marines on Iwo Jima. Photographs of the first flag flown on Mount Suribachi were taken by Staff Sergeant Louis R. Lowery of "Leatherneck" magazine, who accompanied the patrol up the mountain, and other photographers. Others involved with the first flag-raising include Corporal Charles W. Lindberg, Privates First Class James Michels and Raymond Jacobs, Private Phil Ward, and Navy corpsman John Bradley This flag was too small, however, to be easily seen from the northern
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Harlon Block


Harlon Henry Block (November 6, 1924 – March 1, 1945) was a United States Marine Corps corporal who was killed in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Born in Yorktown, Texas, Block joined the Marine Corps with seven high school classmates in February 1943, and subsequently participated in combat on Bougainville and Iwo Jima. He is best known for being one of the six flag-raisers who helped raise the second U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, as shown in
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Shadow of Suribachi


Shadow of Suribachi: Raising The Flags on Iwo Jima (1995) is a book released during the 50th anniversary of the flag-raising(s) atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima during World War II which was written by Parker Bishop Albee, Jr. and Keller Cushing Freeman. The book mainly examines the controversy over the identification of the flag-raiser who was positioned at the base of the flagpole in Joe Rosenthal's "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" photograph of the second flag-raising on February 23, 1945. Though
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Battle of Iwo Jima


as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war, and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time. In 1954, the flag raising picture was later used by Felix de Weldon to sculpt the Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial), located adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery. Three of the six Marines depicted in the picture, Sergeant Michael Strank, Corporal Harlon Block, and Private First Class Franklin Sousley, were killed in action days after the flag-raising. Two of the three surviving flag-
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History of the United States Marine Corps


John A. Lejeune, another popular commandant. In World War II, the Marines played a central role, under Admiral Nimitz, in the Pacific War, participating in nearly every significant battle. The Corps also saw its peak growth as it expanded from two brigades to two corps with six divisions, and five air wings with 132 squadrons. During the Battle of Iwo Jima, photographer Joe Rosenthal took the famous photo "Raising of the Flag on Iwo Jima" of five Marines and one naval corpsman raising a U.S. flag on Mount
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Mount Suribachi


States Marines invaded the island and initiated a major battle. For the United States, Iwo Jima was an important strategic point between the United States and mainland Japan, a status that resulted in severe fighting that took the lives of nearly 7,000 Americans and 20,000 Japanese. Photographer Joe Rosenthal took his famous picture, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima during this battle. The film "Sands of Iwo Jima", directed by Allan Dwan and starring John Wayne in 1949, follows a United States Marine rifle squad preparing for battle at Iwo
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Rene Gagnon


secured the flag until it was delivered to Marine Headquarters after the 2nd battalion returned to Hawaii from Iwo Jima. On March 27, 1945, when Gagnon and the 28th Marines left Iwo Jima for Hawaii, Gagnon was aboard the transport , On March 30, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the six flag raisers in Rosenthal's flag raising photo to be sent to Washington, D.C.. Gagnon was the first to be identified, and as one of the three surviving flag raisers in the photo on April 7, followed by PhM2c. Bradley
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Ira Hayes


service in the Marine Corps he descended into alcoholism. He died of exposure to cold and alcohol poisoning after a night of drinking on January 23–24, 1955. He was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on February 2, 1955. Hayes was commemorated in art and film, before and after his death. In 1949, he portrayed himself raising the flag in the motion picture movie, "Sands of Iwo Jima". A giant Marine figure of Hayes raising the flag on Iwo Jima with the other five participants
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Rene Gagnon


famous. The flag raising was also filmed in color by Sgt. Bill Genaust who was killed in action a few days later. On March 14, 1945, a third American flag was officially raised by two Marines at Kitano Point at the northern end of the island. The flag that Gagnon helped raise, in the two unofficial flag-raisings on February 23, was lowered and taken to Marine headquarters. On March 27, Gagnon and the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines left Iwo Jima, and both flags that were flown
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Flags of Our Fathers (film)


Flags of Our Fathers is a 2006 American war film directed, co-produced, and scored by Clint Eastwood and written by William Broyles Jr., and Paul Haggis. It is based on the 2000 book of the same name written by James Bradley and Ron Powers about the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima, the five Marines and one Navy corpsman who were involved in raising the flag on Iwo Jima, and the aftereffects of that event on their lives. Until June 23, 2016, Bradley's father John Bradley, Navy corpsman
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To the Shores of Iwo Jima


To the Shores of Iwo Jima is a 1945 Kodachrome color short war film produced by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. It documents the Battle of Iwo Jima, and was the first time that American audiences saw in color the footage of the famous flag raising on Iwo Jima. The film follows the servicemen through the battle in rough chronological order, from the bombardment of the island by warships and carrier-based airplanes to the final breakdown of resistance. Although it shows the taking of Mount Suribachi, it then
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Ira Hayes


killed in action on Iwo Jima in March 1945, was misidentified as being Sergeant Henry Hansen from Third Platoon, Easy Company who was also killed in action. Hayes had attempted to correct the misrepresentation of his friend Block for Hansen (Hansen helped raise the first flag) in April 1945, but was silenced by a Marine Corps officer in Washington, D.C. who was placed in charge of the flag-raisers. Hayes and his unit left Iwo Jima on the USS "Winged Arrow" bound for Hawaii on March 27, 1945
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


in turn, forwarded the letter to Marine Corps Commandant Alexander Vandegrift, who ordered an investigation. John Bradley (formerly in Third Platoon with Hansen), upon being shown the evidence (Hansen, a former Paramarine, wore his large parachutist boots in an exposed manner on Iwo Jima), agreed that it was probably Block and not Hansen. In January 1947, the Marine Corps officially concluded and announced it was Block in the photo and not Hansen. The Marine Corps made a public announcement on June 23, 2016 stating that
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Ernest Ivy Thomas Jr.


enemy rifle fire at the north end of Iwo Jima. Thomas was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross (for the February 21 action) and the Purple Heart Medal. He was buried on Iwo Jima at the 5th Marine Division cemetery. On March 14, a flag was officially raised by orders of Lieutenant General Holland Smith on the north end of the island where 3rd Marine Division troops were located, and the second flag which was raised on February 23 on Mount Suribachi came down. A service was held at the 5th Division cemetery
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History of Virginia on stamps


today's more elaborate sarcophagus. The Marine Corps War Memorial, also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial is located in Arlington, Virginia. A replica of the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington, Virginia is at the Quantico Base main gate today. The sculpture at the Memorial is by Felix W. de Weldon, then on duty with the U.S. Navy. The same scene is reproduced on a 3-cent stamp on July 11, 1945, a group of Marines raising the U.S. flag over Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Shipbuilding
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


to design a memorial to the Marine Corps. It took de Weldon and hundreds of his assistants three years to finish it. Hayes, Gagnon, and Bradley, posed for de Weldon, who used their faces as a model. The three Marine flag raisers who did not survive the battle were sculpted from photographs. The flag-raising Rosenthal (and Genaust) photographed was the replacement flag/flagstaff for the first flag/flagstaff that was raised on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945. There was some resentment from former
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Harry B. Liversedge


Brigadier General Harry Bluett Liversedge (September 21, 1894 – November 25, 1951), whose regiment figured in the historic raising the flag on Iwo Jima, was a United States Marine who died in 1951 after almost 25 years of service. His last assignment was as director of the Marine Corps Reserve. The former Olympic track star was awarded his second Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism as commander of the 28th Marine Regiment at the Battle of Iwo Jima. He had won his first while leading the crack 1st Marine Raider Regiment in
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Louis R. Lowery


American flag flown on top of Mount Suribachi. Due to an agreement between the Marine Corps and the Associated Press in regard to Rosenthal's famous photo of the second flag raising, Lowery's photos taken on Iwo Jima weren't published until 1947, when sixteen of his photos appeared in "Leatherneck Magazine". Two of Lowery's photos of the first American flag after it was raised atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima: Photo (Left): Left to Right: 1st Lt. Harold Schrier (kneeling behind radioman),
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Harold Schultz


, 1943, from Detroit, Michigan. He was a member Easy (E) Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division which was activated in 1944 and began training at Camp Pendleton before the division was transferred to Camp Tarawa near Hilo, Hawaii, for further training to prepare for the invasion of Iwo Jima. In January 1945, the division left Hawaii for Iwo Jima. He participated in the battle of Iwo Jima, which began on February 19, helped raise the replacement U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi
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Felix de Weldon


Marine Corps War Memorial (called Iwo Jima Memorial) in the realist tradition, based upon the famous photograph of Joe Rosenthal, of the Associated Press agency, taken on February 23, 1945. De Weldon made sculptures from life of three (on June 23, 2016, John Bradley was not believed to be in the photo) of the six servicemen raising the replacement United States flag on Mount Suribachi, on Iwo Jima. The other three flag-raisers who were killed in action (on June 23, 2016, Harold
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


Coast Guardsman Quartermaster Robert Resnick, who served aboard the at Iwo Jima. "Before he died in November 2004, Resnick said Gagnon came aboard LST-758 the morning of February 23 looking for a flag. Resnick said he grabbed a flag from a bunting box and asked permission from his ship's commanding officer Lt. Felix Molenda to donate it. Resnick kept quiet about his participation until 2001." Strank with his three Marines, and Gagnon, reached the top of the mountain around noon without being fired upon. Rosenthal, along
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


with Marine photographers Sergeant Bill Genaust (who was killed in action after the flag-raising) and Private First Class Bob Campbell were climbing Suribachi at this time. On the way up, the trio met Lowery, who had photographed the first flag-raising, coming down. They considered turning around, but Lowery told them that the summit was an excellent vantage point from which to take photographs. The three photographers reached the summit as the Marines were attaching the flag to an old Japanese water pipe. Rosenthal put his Speed
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Charles W. Lindberg


, took photos of Marines, corpsmen, and themselves, around both of the flags. The second flag-raisers and John Bradley (instead of Howard Schultz), received national recognition for raising the flag on Iwo Jima and for the two surviving flag-raisers, Gagnon and Hayes's (and Bradley's) participation in the bond selling tour after the battle. The Marines who captured Mount Suribachi and were involved with the first flag-raising, including Lindberg, generally did not receive national recognition. Lindberg was honorably discharged
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James Michels


James R. Michels (January 18, 1918 – January 17, 1982) was a United States Marine corporal who served in World War II. He was part of the combat patrol that climbed up Mount Suribachi and raised the first American flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima, on February 23, 1945. Michels was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1918. Michels joined the United States Marine Corps during World War II. He took part in the Battle of Iwo Jima which began on February 19, 1945 while serving as
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National Iwo Jima Memorial


The US National Iwo Jima Memorial is a memorial on Ella Grasso Boulevard, near the New Britain/Newington town line in Connecticut. It was erected by the Iwo Jima Survivors Association, Inc. of Newington, Connecticut. It was dedicated on February 23, 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the flag raising on Iwo Jima. It is dedicated to the memory of the 6,821 US servicemen who gave their lives at Iwo Jima. Inscribed on the base are the names of the 100 men from Connecticut who gave their lives in the
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


Marine Corporal (then Private First Class) Harold Schultz was in the Rosenthal photograph of the flag-raising and Navy Corpsman John Bradley was not (Schultz is now in Franklin Sousley's named position in the photo and Sousley is in Bradley's). Schultz and John Bradley were both present at the first and second flag raising and Sousley only the second raising. Bradley, who died in 1994, gave few interviews, at times saying that he raised the flag, pitched in to raise the flag, raised the second flag
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


, and the island would not be declared "secure" until 31 days later, on March 26. There were two American flags raised on top of Mount Suribachi, on February 23, 1945. The photograph Rosenthal took was actually of the second flag-raising in which a larger replacement flag was raised by Marines who did not raise the first flag. A U.S. flag was first raised atop Mount Suribachi soon after the mountaintop was captured at around 10:20 on February 23, 1945. Lieutenant Colonel Chandler Johnson, commander of the
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Iwo Jima


. The island was the location of the Battle of Iwo Jima between February 1945–March 1945. The island became globally recognized when Joe Rosenthal, who worked for the Associated Press at the time, published his photograph "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" which was photographed on Mount Suribachi. The US military occupied Iwo Jima until 1968, when it was returned to Japan. The first European to arrive at Iwo Jima was Spanish sailor Bernardo de la Torre who named it Sufre Island, after the old Spanish term for sulphur ("
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The Outsider (1961 film)


The Outsider is a 1961 biopic film about Ira Hayes, a Native American who fought in World War II in the United States Marine Corps and was one of the Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima. The film stars Tony Curtis as Hayes. It was directed by Delbert Mann. Jim Sorenson, a Marine depicted as Hayes's best friend, is a fictional composite of other men who raised the flag. The movie was adapted from an article by William Bradford Huie about Hayes. The 17-year-old Ira Hamilton Hayes
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Battle of Iwo Jima


Suribachi until it was taken down on March 14, when an American flag was officially raised at Kitano Point at the northern end of the island by orders of the commander of all the troops on Iwo Jima, Lt. Gen. Holland Smith, who witnessed the event with Maj. Gen. Graves B. Erskine, the commander of the Third Marine Division, and troops of the division. Despite Japan's loss of Mount Suribachi on the south end of the island, the Japanese still held strong positions on the north end. The rocky
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


complained for several years that he helped to raise the flag and "was called a liar and everything else. It was terrible" (because of all the recognition and publicity over and directed to the replacement flag-raisers and that flag-raising); and Raymond Jacobs, photographed with the patrol commander around the base of the first flag flying over Mt. Suribachi, who complained until he died in 2008 that he was still not recognized by the Marine Corps by name as being the radioman in the photo. The original Rosenthal
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


helped raise a smaller flag about 90 minutes earlier, and were both still on the mountaintop and witnessed – but were not part of – the specific moment of raising the larger flag that was captured in the Pulitzer Prize–winning photo. All men were under the command of Brigadier General Harry B. Liversedge. The image was later used by Felix de Weldon to sculpt the Marine Corps War Memorial, which was dedicated in 1954 to all Marines who died for their country and is located in Arlington Ridge Park, near the Ord-
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John Keith Wells


John Keith Wells (February 5, 1922 – February 11, 2016) was a United States Marine during World War II who led one of the most decorated infantry platoons to come out of a single engagement and the first to raise a flag over the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during World War II, 3rd Platoon, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division. This platoon was made famous for its attack on Mt. Suribachi and for raising the first flag on the summit. Wells was born in 1922 and raised in north Texas.
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5th Marine Division (United States)


to be released as the division reserve. On 23 February, two American flags were raised on Mount Suribachi by members of the 28th Marine Regiment (28th Marines). The 5th Division would fight on Iwo Jima from 19 February until 26 March where they would sustain 2,482 killed in action, 19 missing in action, and 6,218 wounded in action. This was the highest casualty rate among the three Marine divisions involved in the invasion. The 5th Division began loading onto ships on 26 March, finally leaving Iwo Jima on 27 March
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


Marines of the original 40-man patrol that went up Mount Suribachi including by those involved with the first flag-raising, that they did not receive the recognition they deserved. These included Staff Sgt. Lou Lowery, who took the first photos of the first flag flying over Mt. Suribachi; Charles W. Lindberg, who helped tie the first American flag to the first flagpole on Mount Suribachi (and who was, until his death in June 2007, one of the last living persons depicted in either flag-flying scene), who
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Bill Genaust


renewed search efforts in 2007, his and the other Marine's body have never been recovered. Genaust is among 250 listed missing on Iwo Jima, although most of those Americans were lost at sea. The Marine Corps War Memorial (also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial) in Arlington, Virginia which was inspired by Rosenthal's photograph of the second flag-raising by six Marines atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, was dedicated on November 10, 1954. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sat upfront with Vice President Richard Nixon
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Louis R. Lowery


decorations and awards include: The Marine Corps War Memorial (also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial) in Arlington, Virginia which was inspired by Rosenthal's photograph of the second flag-raising by six Marines atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, was dedicated on November 10, 1954. Lowery, who was present at the first flag-raising on Mount Suribachi and took the first photographs of the American flag, attended the dedication. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sat upfront with Vice President Richard Nixon, Deputy Secretary of Defense
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2nd Battalion, 28th Marines


flag raising by Rosenthal that became the iconic photo of the battle. Following the taking of Mount Suribachi, the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines were allowed a few days' rest and then returned to fighting on the northern side of Mount Suribachi and the island on March 2 until Iwo Jima was declared secure on March 26, 1945 (the 5th Division left for Hawaii on March 27). After the fighting on Iwo Jima, the battalion returned to Camp Tarawa, Hawaii to rest and refit and begin training for the planned invasion
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


time. The flag was attached by Schrier and two Marines to a Japanese iron water pipe found on top, and the flagstaff was raised and planted by Schrier, assisted by Platoon Sergeant Ernest Thomas and Sergeant Oliver Hansen at about 10:30 am (on February 25, during a CBS press interview aboard the flagship about the flag-raising, Thomas stated that he, Schrier, and Hansen (platoon guide) had actually raised the flag). The raising of the national colors immediately caused a loud cheering reaction from the Marines,
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Shadow of Suribachi


Mount Suribachi and raised the first of two flags atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945. After the battle of Iwo Jima, Hansen (killed in action on March 1) was incorrectly identified as a flag-raiser in the photograph by E Company's runner (messenger) during the battle, Rene Gagnon, who helped raise the second flag. E Company's Third Platoon corpsman, John Bradley (incorrectly named a second flag-raiser), also misidentified Hansen as a second flag-raiser. Marine Ira Hayes was
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5th Marine Division (United States)


1945 sailing for Hawaii. On 21 March 1945 the 5th Marine Division Cemetery was formally dedicated on Iwo Jima. Chaplains prayed, Major General Keller E. Rockey added a tribute to the dead and Lieutenant Roland B. Gittelsohn, U.S. Navy and a 5th Division chaplain, spoke of friends buried and "the ghastly price of freedom..." The American flag (there since 14 March) at the northern part of Iwo Jima was raised then lowered to half-mast. Taps was played echoing across the dark foreboding ash of "Sulfur Island
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Gerald F. Russell


Gerald F. Russell was a Marine who served in World War II, including missions to Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal. He commanded one of the first units to land in Japan and provided protection for the US technical teams covering the atomic bomb site in Nagaskai. Col. Russell also witnessed the historical raising of the American flag on Mt. Suribachi in Iwo Jima. Russell was born May 1, 1916, in Providence, Rhode Island. Russell graduated from La Salle Academy in Providence where he was the National Schoolboy Miler winner in his senior
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James Forrestal


South Pacific in 1942, present at the Battle of Kwajalein in 1944, and (as Secretary) witnessed the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. After five days of pitched battle, a detachment of Marines was sent to hoist the American flag on the 545-foot summit of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. This was the first time in the war that the U.S. flag had flown on Japanese soil. Forrestal, who had just landed on the beach, claimed the historic flag as a souvenir. A second, larger flag was run
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Clint Eastwood in the 2000s


the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima. "Flags of Our Fathers" told the story of the men who raised the American flag on top of Mount Suribachi. "Letters from Iwo Jima" was about the combat tactics the Japanese soldiers on the island used and the letters they wrote to family members. "Letters from Iwo Jima" was the first American film to show a war issue completely from the view of an American enemy. Both films were highly praised by critics and garnered several Oscar nominations, including Best Director
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


photograph is currently in the possession of Roy H. Williams, who bought it from the estate of John Faber, the official historian for the National Press Photographers Association, who had received it from Rosenthal. Both flags (from the first and second flag-raisings) are now located in the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia. Ira Hayes, following the war, was plagued with depression brought on by survivor guilt and became an alcoholic. His tragic life and death in 1955 at the age of 32 were
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


and gave it to Johnson. Johnson, in turn, gave it to Rene Gagnon, with orders to take it up to Schrier on Mount Suribachi and raise it. The official Marine Corps history of the event is that Tuttle received the flag from Navy Ensign Alan Wood of USS "LST-779", who in turn had received the flag from a supply depot in Pearl Harbor. Severance had confirmed that the second larger flag was in fact provided by Alan Wood even though Wood could not recognize any of the pictures of the 2nd
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Ira Hayes


discharged from the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton, California on December 1, 1945. On February 21, 1946, he was awarded a Navy Commendation from the Marine Corps for meritorious service in combat during World War II. Hayes attempted to lead a normal civilian life after the war. "I kept getting hundreds of letters. And people would drive through the reservation, walk up to me and ask, "Are you the Indian who raised the flag on Iwo Jima?" Although Hayes rarely spoke about the flag raising,
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Rene Gagnon


Schrier and his men were on top they attached the flag to a Japanese iron water pipe. Then Lt. Schrier, Platoon Sgt. Ernest Thomas, and Sgt. Henry Hansen raised the flag, planting the flagstaff into the ground. Seeing the raising of the national colors immediately caused loud cheers from the Marines, sailors, and Coast Guardsmen on the south end beaches of Iwo Jima and from the men on the ships near the beach. Some two hours after the first flag was raised on Mount Suribachi, the Marines decided
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Sands of Iwo Jima


had never actually managed to. Moments later, the squad witnesses the iconic flag raising. Conway, reminiscent of Stryker, walks away shouting "Saddle Up!" Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, and John Bradley, (until 2016, Bradley was incorrectly identified as being a flag-raiser) the three survivors of the five Marines and one Navy corpsman who were credited with raising the second flag on Mount Suribachi during the actual battle, appear briefly in the film just prior to the re-enactment. Hayes was also the
20269467
Robert Sherrod


history." He later wrote the book "On to Westward: The Battles of Saipan and Iwo Jima" about his experiences on Saipan and Iwo Jima. Unfortunately, Sherrod also admitted to being responsible for spreading the rumor that Joe Rosenthal's famous photograph of the Marines' second flag raising on Mount Suribachi was "staged"; he later confessed that he was wrong and apologized. He was later a war correspondent in Korea and in Vietnam. Sherrod was the managing editor for the "Saturday Evening Post" from 1955 to
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Native Americans and World War II


during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Over the course of the war, Native American men fought across the world on all fronts, and were involved in many of the most critical battles involving American troops, including Iwo Jima (which was the site of Ira Hayes' triumphant moment in the famous photograph of Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima with four of his fellow Marines and a Navy corpsman), the invasion of Normandy, the liberation of the Philippines, the Battle of the Bulge, the liberation of Paris, and
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


the Mariana Islands, where American long-range bombers were based, and was used by the Japanese as an early warning station, radioing warnings of incoming American bombers to the Japanese homeland. The Americans, after capturing the island, weakened the Japanese early warning system, and used it as an emergency landing strip for damaged bombers. Iwo Jima is a volcanic island, shaped like a trapezoid. Marines on the island described it as "a large, gray pork chop". The island was heavily fortified, and the invading
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Harlon Block


the iconic photograph "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima". The Marine Corps War Memorial located in Arlington, Virginia, which was modeled after the flag-raising photograph, depicts bronze statues of each of the six Marine flag-raisers. Block was born in Yorktown, Texas, the third of six children to Edward Frederick Block and Ada Belle Brantley, a Seventh day-Adventist family. The Block children were: Edward, Jr., Maurine, Harlon, Larry, Corky, and Melford. Edward Frederick Block was a
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


Ground Zero. Other iconic photographs frequently compared include "V–J day in Times Square", "Into the Jaws of Death", "Raising a flag over the Reichstag", and the "Raising of the Ink Flag". The highly recognizable image is one of the most parodied photographs in history. Anti-war activists in the 1960s altered the flag to bear a peace symbol, as well as several anti-establishment artworks. Edward Kienholz's "Portable War Memorial" in 1968 depicted faceless Marines raising the
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


Graphic camera on the ground (set to 1/400 sec shutter speed, with the f-stop between 8 and 11 and Agfa film) so he could pile rocks to stand on for a better vantage point. In doing so, he nearly missed the shot. The Marines began raising the flag. Realizing he was about to miss the action, Rosenthal quickly swung his camera up and snapped the photograph without using the viewfinder. Ten years after the flag-raising, Rosenthal wrote: Sergeant Genaust, who was standing almost shoulder
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Alan Wood (military officer)


Alan Stevenson Wood (May 3, 1922 – April 18, 2013) was an American retired naval officer and veteran of World War II. Wood, who was U.S. Naval Communications officer at the Battle of Iwo Jima in February 1945, supplied the American flag being raised in the historic "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. Wood was born in Pasadena, California, on May 3, 1922. He was a descendent of one of the first pioneer families who had
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Charles W. Lindberg


raising which had been generally portrayed since 1945 as the only flag-raising on Mount Suribachi. Although there were photographs taken of the first flag flying on Mount Suribachi and some which include Lindberg helping to tie the flag unto the flagstaff and standing beneath the flag after it was raised, there was no single photograph taken of Marines actually raising the first flag. The first flag flown over the southern end of Iwo Jima was regarded to be too small to be seen by all the American troops on the other side of the mountain
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


flag raisers as Gagnon. The flag was sewn by Mabel Sauvageau, a worker at the "flag loft" of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. First Lieutenant George Greeley Wells, who had been the Second Battalion, 28th Marines adjutant officially in charge of the two American flags flown on Mount Suribachi, stated in the "New York Times" in 1991, that Lieutenant Colonel Johnson ordered him (Wells) to get the second flag, and that he (Wells) sent Rene Gagnon his battalion runner, to the ships on
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Ira Hayes


flag attached onto another steel pipe found by Hayes and Sousley, while at the same time the smaller flag came down. Schultz from Third Platoon, was part of the original 40-man patrol that climbed up Mount Suribachi. On March 14, another American flag was officially raised at Marine headquarters at the base of Mount Suribachi to signal the Marine occupied Iwo Jima, and the flag on top of Mount Suribachi that Hayes helped to raise there was taken down. Hayes fought on the island until it was secure on March 26, and
18283389
Alan Wood (military officer)


of the company of the U.S. Marines who took Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. Severance noted that "I have a file of more than 60 people who claim to have had something to do with the flags," but confirmed that it was indeed Wood who brought the American flag to Iwo Jima. Wood enrolled at the Art Center in Pasadena, where he studied water color. He became a respected watercolorist and painter. He was hired as a technical artist for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, California in 1958
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Franklin Sousley


of Sousley's company and platoon before they departed Iwo Jima that day. Sousley's remains were reinterred on May 8, 1947, in Elizaville Cemetery in Fleming County, Kentucky. The Marine Corps War Memorial (also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial) in Arlington, Virginia which was inspired by Rosenthal's photograph of the second flag-raising on Mount Suribachi was dedicated on November 10, 1954. Sousley is depicted as the third bronze statue from the bottom of the flagstaff with the 32 foot (9.8 M) bronze statues
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Harold G. Schrier


Marines, 1st Marine Division, he was wounded in the neck by enemy small arms fire during an all-night hill fight at Hill 1520 in North Korea. He was evacuated to Japan. The Marine Corps War Memorial (also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial) in Arlington, Virginia which was inspired by Rosenthal's photograph of the second flag raising on Mount Suribachi was dedicated on November 10, 1954 (the first flag-raising on Mount Suribachi was not given recognition). Harold Schrier, Charles Lindberg, and Lou
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


shore for the flag, and that Gagnon returned with a flag and gave it to him (Wells), and that Gagnon took this flag up Mt. Suribachi with a message for Schrier to raise it and send the other flag down with Gagnon. Wells stated that he received the first flag back from Gagnon and secured it at the Marine headquarters command post. Wells also stated that he had handed the first flag to Lieutenant Schrier to take up Mount Suribachi. The Coast Guard Historian's Office recognizes the claims made by former U.S.
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Ira Hayes


Jima. The 5th Marine Division landed on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. Hayes's Second Platoon, Easy Company, 2/28 Marines, landed on the southern beach near Mount Suribachi off of the USS Talladega after transferring from the USS Missoula. On February 23, Marines from the Third Platoon of Easy Company, 2/28 Marines, captured and raised an American flag on top of Mount Suribachi at approximately 10:30 a.m. In the early afternoon, Hayes's squad leader, Sergeant Michael Strank, was ordered to take three Marines from his
18283387
Ernest Ivy Thomas Jr.


modeled after the famous photograph of the second-flag raising which had been generally portrayed since 1945 as the only flag-raising on Mount Suribachi. Although there were photographs taken of the first flag flying on Mount Suribachi and some which include Thomas, there was no single photograph taken of Marines actually raising the first flag. The first flag flown over the southern end of Iwo Jima was regarded to be too small to be seen by all the American troops on the other side of the mountain, and was replaced by a larger
4995504
Rene Gagnon


flag raising which had been generally portrayed since 1945 as the only flag-raising on Mount Suribachi. Although there were photographs taken of the first flag flying on Mount Suribachi, there was no single photograph taken of Marines actually raising the first flag. The first flag flown over the southern end of Iwo Jima was regarded to be too small to be seen by all the American troops on the other side of the mountain, and was replaced hours later the same day by a larger one which had been carried up the mountain by
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Henry Oliver Hansen


not Schultz, is now in Bradley's position in the photograph and Schultz is now in Sousley's former position in the photograph. The Marine Corps War Memorial (also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial) in Arlington, Virginia which was inspired by Rosenthal's photograph of the second flag raising on Mount Suribachi was dedicated on November 10, 1954 Harold Schrier, Charles Lindberg, James Michels, and Lou Lowery who were present at the first flag-raising, attended the ceremony. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sat upfront with Vice President
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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


sailors, and coast guardsmen on the beach below and from the men on the ships near the beach. The loud noise made by the servicemen and blasts of the ship horns alerted the Japanese, who up to this point had stayed in their cave bunkers. Schrier and his men near the flagstaff then came under fire from Japanese troops, but the Marines quickly eliminated the threat. Schrier was later awarded the Navy Cross for volunteering to take the patrol up Mount Suribachi and raising the American flag, and a Silver Star Medal for
7177131
Flags of Our Fathers (film)


, was misidentified as being one of the figures who raised the second flag, and incorrectly depicted on the memorial as the third bronze statue from the base of the flagstaff with the 32-foot (9.8-m) bronze statues of the other five flag-raisers on the monument. The film is taken from the American viewpoint of the Battle of Iwo Jima, while its companion film, "Letters from Iwo Jima", which Eastwood also directed, is from the Japanese viewpoint of the battle. Although a box office bomb only grossing 65.9
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Rene Gagnon


on Iwo Jima. She enjoyed the limelight, whereas he, by that time, no longer did. Gagnon appeared in two films about the battle of Iwo Jima: "To the Shores of Iwo Jima" (a government documentary which simply showed the color footage of the U.S. flag raising) and "Sands of Iwo Jima" (1949). He was also part of a Rose Bowl half-time show. Gagnon died on October 12, 1979, at age 54, in Manchester, New Hampshire. He resided
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Ira Hayes


Ira Hamilton Hayes (January 12, 1923 – January 24, 1955) was a Pima Native American and a United States Marine who was one of the six flag raisers immortalized in the iconic photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima during World War II. Hayes was an enrolled member of the Gila River Pima Indian Reservation located in the Pinal and Maricopa counties in Arizona. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve on August 26, 1942, and, after recruit training, volunteered to become a Paramarine. He fought
18283375
Harold Schultz


, pitched in to help the flagstaff stay vertical. Seeing the raising of the National colors immediately caused loud cheers from the Marines, sailors, and Coast Guardsmen on the south end of Iwo Jima and from the men on the ships near the beach. Staff Sergeant Lou Lowery, a Marine photographer for "Leatherneck Magazine" and the only photographer who accompanied the patrol, took several photos of the first flag before and after it was raised. The last photo he took was before a Japanese grenade almost killed him (his camera
623817
Flags of Our Fathers (film)


"shut his face". Lee responded that Eastwood was acting like an "angry old man", and argued that despite making two Iwo Jima films back to back, "Letters from Iwo Jima" and "Flags of Our Fathers", "there was not one black Marine in both of those films". Contrary to Lee's claims, however, black Marines (including an all-black unit) are seen in several scenes during which the mission is outlined, as well as during the initial landings, when
11187119
Clint Eastwood


of "The New York Times" lauded the film as a "masterpiece" and the best film of the year. In 2006, Eastwood directed two films about World War II's Battle of Iwo Jima. The first, "Flags of Our Fathers", focused on the men who raised the American flag on top of Mount Suribachi and featured the film debut of Eastwood's son Scott. This was followed by "Letters from Iwo Jima", which dealt with the tactics of the Japanese soldiers on the island and the
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USS Talladega (APA-208)


Group 56.2, the Assault Group, on 16 February, and arrived off Iwo Jima on the morning of 19 February, "D-day". Four Marines pictured in Joe Rosenthal's famous flag-raising photograph debarked from "Talladega" to climb Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima: Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, and Mike Strank. After landing her troops, she remained off the beaches embarking combat casualties for six days before heading back toward Saipan. "Talladega" was routed onward through Tulagi and New Caledonia
16396335
Battle of Iwo Jima


and the American flag was attached on the pipe and then raised and planted on top of Mount Suribachi which became the first foreign flag to fly on Japanese soil. Photographs of this "first flag raising" scene, taken by Marine photographer Louis R. Lowery, were not released until late 1947. As the flag went up, Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal had just landed on the beach at the foot of Mount Suribachi and decided that he wanted the flag as a souvenir. Colonel Johnson, the battalion's commander, believed
14699322
James Michels


flag should be sent up Mount Suribachi to replace the first flag. The replacement flag attached to another and heavier pipe was raised on the mountain top simultaneous with the lowering of the first flagstaff. It was the black-and-white photograph shot of the second flag-raising by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal which became renowned, made the second-flag raisers famous, and led to the creation of the huge Marine Corps War Memorial (sometimes called the Iwo Jima Memorial) in 1954, at Arlington, Virginia. After
17835211
Marine Raiders


to the 5th Marine Division. Many of the men who were formerly assigned to Raider units went on to serve with distinction during 1944 and 1945. For example, Michael Strank, one of the six men in the iconic photograph of the flag raising at Iwo Jima was a former Raider. During the war, a total of 8,078 men, including 7,710 Marines and 368 sailors, were assigned to Raider units. Raiders received a total of seven Medals of Honor and 136 Navy Crosses. According to the "Marine Corps Times"
6885336
Bill Genaust


the patrol and photographed the Marines and Navy corpsmen climbing to the top of Mount Suribachi, the Marines tying the flag on the pipe, and the men around the flagstaff after it was raised. Around noon, Marine photographers Sergeant Genaust and Private Campbell were ordered to go up Mount Suribachi. On the way there, they meet Associated Press (AP) photographer Joe Rosenthal who first arrived on Iwo Jima with the 4th Marine Division on February, 19 (he went back and forth from a ship each day), but missed
7748677
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


(he also said he was on, and not on, Mount Suribachi when the first flag was raised). Bradley was usually tight-lipped after the war about his wartime experiences, including both flag raisings and did not attend Iwo Jima veterans reunions. He often deflected questions by claiming he had forgotten. During his 47-year marriage, he only talked about it with his wife Betty once, on their first date, and never again afterwards. Within the Bradley family, it was considered a taboo subject, and when they
7177154
Flags of Our Fathers


Flags of Our Fathers (2000) is a "New York Times" bestselling book by James Bradley with Ron Powers about the six United States Marines who would eventually be made famous by Joe Rosenthal's lauded photograph of the flag raising at Iwo Jima, one of the costliest and most horrifying battles of World War II's Pacific Theater. The flag raisers were Harold Schultz, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Mike Strank, Harlon Block, and Franklin Sousley; the latter three men died later in the battle. Strank was a
15495901
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima


Weitzel Gate to Arlington National Cemetery and the Netherlands Carillon. The copyright holder, the Associated Press, relinquished its rights to the photograph, placing it in the public domain. On February 19, 1945, the United States invaded Iwo Jima as part of its island-hopping strategy to defeat Japan. Iwo Jima originally was not a target, but the relatively quick fall of the Philippines left the Americans with a longer-than-expected lull prior to the planned invasion of Okinawa. Iwo Jima is located halfway between Japan and
7177123
Henry Oliver Hansen


Henry Oliver "Hank" Hansen (December 14, 1919 – March 1, 1945) was a United States Marine Corps sergeant who was killed in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. He was one of the members of the combat patrol that climbed, captured, and helped raise the original U.S. flags on top of Mount Suribachi on the morning of February 23, 1945. Until January 1947, Hansen was incorrectly identified as being one of the six men raising a second, larger flag about 90 minutes
19810397
Paramarines


Division which landed on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. Former Paramarines, Cpl. Harlon H. Block and Pfc. Ira H. Hayes, assisted in the raising of the American flag on Mount Suribachi on 23 February 1945, depicted in Joe Rosenthal's iconic photograph. A third former Paramarine, Sgt. Henry O. "Hank" Hansen, had participated in the first American flag-raising earlier that day. Four of the 82 Marine Medal of Honor recipients in World War II were former Paramarines who were awarded the medal for
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