On the hill
"Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima", an iconic photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press on February 23, 1945.
It won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography. The Associated Press has placed the photograph in the public domain.
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On February 19, 1945, the United States invaded Iwo Jima, one of the Japanese home islands, as part of its island-hopping strategy to defeat Japan. The island was heavily fortified, and the invading Marines suffered high casualties. The island is dominated by Mount Suribachi, a 546-foot high dormant volcanic cone at the southern tip of the island. The American effort concentrated on capturing Suribachi so that the Japanese could not use it as an outpost for targeting artillery.
Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, was ordered to send a 40-man combat patrol up the mountain. The flag they carried was a 54-by-28-inch banner taken from their transport ship, the USS Missoula. The patrol made it up the mountain by 10:15 AM, having come under little or no enemy fire. The flag was attached to a Japanese iron water pipe found on top, and the flagstaff raised
This flag was too small to be easily seen from the northern side of Mount Suribachi, where heavy fighting would go on for several more days.
Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal had just come ashore and wanted the flag as a souvenir.
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This did not sit well with 2nd Battalion Commander Chandler Johnson, who felt the flag belonged to his battalion. He told assistant operations officer Lieutenant Ted Tuttle to obtain a replacement, bigger flag. Tuttle found a large (96-by-56-inch) flag in nearby Tank Landing Ship USS LST-779.
Sergeant Michael Strank, a Second Platoon squad leader, was to told to take three members of his rifle squad -- Corporal Harlon H. Block and Privates First Class Franklin R. Sousley and Ira H. Hayes -- and climb up Mount Suribachi to raise the replacement flag. They were accompanied by Private First Class Rene A. Gagnon, battalion message runner, who carried the flag and other supplies up the mountain.
Strank, Block, Hayes, Sousley, and Gagnon, reached the top of the mountain around noon without being fired upon. The Marines attached the flag to the Japanese water pipe. Marines Harold Keller and Harlon Block, who'd remained with the combat patrol atop Mt. Suribachi since that morning, assisted Strank, Block, Hayes and Sousely in raising the flag.
AP photographer Joe Rosenthal had set down his Speed Graphic camera on the ground and was building a pile of rocks to stand on so that he could get a better vantage point. Realizing he was about to miss the action, Rosenthal grabbed his camera and snapped the photograph without using the viewfinder.
Strank and Block were killed on March 1, six days after the flag-raising. Sousley was shot and killed by a Japanese sniper on March 21.
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Rosenthal did not take the names of those in the photograph. On April 7, Rene Gagnon was the first of the "flag-raisers" to arrive in Washington, D.C. Since the photo did not show any faces, Gagnon wasn't sure who had raised the flag. But he thought the flag-raisers were John Bradley, Henry Hansen, Franklin Sousley, and Michael Strank. Ira Hayes had told Gagnon to never mention his name, as Hayes did not want the publicity. Gagnon used his own name in place of Hayes'. This left a sixth man unidentified, and Gagnon named Hayes.
Harlon Block was correctly identified as a flag-raiser (not Hansen) in 1947 after Block's mother raised the issue. She'd "changed so many diapers on that boy's butt, I know it's my boy." Ira Hayes confirmed her suspicions.
In November 2014, amateur historians Eric Krelle and Stephen Foley said that their study of photographs and film footage taken that day showed that one of the flag-raisers was Franklin Sousley (not John Bradley), and that the person previously identified as Sousley was really Harold Schultz. The Marine Corps confirmed their conclusions in 2016.
Historian Stephen Foley, filmmaker Dustin Spence, and historian Brent Westemeyer contacted the Marine Corps shortly thereafter and said it was Harold Keller (not Rene Gagnon) in the photograph. The Marine Corps verified their conclusions in 2019.
Rosenthal had no idea if he'd actually gotten the shot. He sent his film to Guam to be developed.Upon seeing it, Associated Press photograph editor John Bodkin exclaimed "Here's one for all time!"
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Controversy immediately surrounded the photo.
Following the second flag-raising, Rosenthal had the Marines of Easy Company pose for a "gung-ho" group shot. A few days later on Guam, Rosenthal was asked if he had posed the photograph. Thinking the question was referring to the "gung-ho" photo, he replied "Sure." Robert Sherrod, a Time-Life correspondent, told his editors in New York that Rosenthal had staged the flag-raising photograph, and the assertion was widely repeated on radio.
As a result, Rosenthal was repeatedly accused either of staging the photograph or covering up the first flag-raising.
Eyewitnesses, however, have long documented the correct story. The false version continues to make the rounds, however.
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Both Mt. Suribachi flags are now in the National Marine Corps Museum near Quantico, Virginia.
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Here is the first flag-raising, with the smaller flag taken from the USS Missoula. Photo by SSgt. Louis R. Lowery, USMC.
Left to right: 1st Lt. Harold Schrier (kneeling behind radioman's legs), Pfc. Raymond Jacobs (radioman reassigned from F Company), Sgt. Henry "Hank" Hansen wearing cap, holding flagstaff with left hand), Platoon Sgt. Ernest "Boots" Thomas (seated), Pvt. Phil Ward (holding lower flagstaff with his right hand), PhM2c. John Bradley, USN (holding flagstaff with both hands, his right hand above Ward's right hand and his left hand below.), Pfc. James Michels (holding M1 Carbine), and Cpl. Charles W. Lindberg (standing above Michels).
It won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography. The Associated Press has placed the photograph in the public domain.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
On February 19, 1945, the United States invaded Iwo Jima, one of the Japanese home islands, as part of its island-hopping strategy to defeat Japan. The island was heavily fortified, and the invading Marines suffered high casualties. The island is dominated by Mount Suribachi, a 546-foot high dormant volcanic cone at the southern tip of the island. The American effort concentrated on capturing Suribachi so that the Japanese could not use it as an outpost for targeting artillery.
Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, was ordered to send a 40-man combat patrol up the mountain. The flag they carried was a 54-by-28-inch banner taken from their transport ship, the USS Missoula. The patrol made it up the mountain by 10:15 AM, having come under little or no enemy fire. The flag was attached to a Japanese iron water pipe found on top, and the flagstaff raised
This flag was too small to be easily seen from the northern side of Mount Suribachi, where heavy fighting would go on for several more days.
Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal had just come ashore and wanted the flag as a souvenir.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This did not sit well with 2nd Battalion Commander Chandler Johnson, who felt the flag belonged to his battalion. He told assistant operations officer Lieutenant Ted Tuttle to obtain a replacement, bigger flag. Tuttle found a large (96-by-56-inch) flag in nearby Tank Landing Ship USS LST-779.
Sergeant Michael Strank, a Second Platoon squad leader, was to told to take three members of his rifle squad -- Corporal Harlon H. Block and Privates First Class Franklin R. Sousley and Ira H. Hayes -- and climb up Mount Suribachi to raise the replacement flag. They were accompanied by Private First Class Rene A. Gagnon, battalion message runner, who carried the flag and other supplies up the mountain.
Strank, Block, Hayes, Sousley, and Gagnon, reached the top of the mountain around noon without being fired upon. The Marines attached the flag to the Japanese water pipe. Marines Harold Keller and Harlon Block, who'd remained with the combat patrol atop Mt. Suribachi since that morning, assisted Strank, Block, Hayes and Sousely in raising the flag.
AP photographer Joe Rosenthal had set down his Speed Graphic camera on the ground and was building a pile of rocks to stand on so that he could get a better vantage point. Realizing he was about to miss the action, Rosenthal grabbed his camera and snapped the photograph without using the viewfinder.
Strank and Block were killed on March 1, six days after the flag-raising. Sousley was shot and killed by a Japanese sniper on March 21.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Rosenthal did not take the names of those in the photograph. On April 7, Rene Gagnon was the first of the "flag-raisers" to arrive in Washington, D.C. Since the photo did not show any faces, Gagnon wasn't sure who had raised the flag. But he thought the flag-raisers were John Bradley, Henry Hansen, Franklin Sousley, and Michael Strank. Ira Hayes had told Gagnon to never mention his name, as Hayes did not want the publicity. Gagnon used his own name in place of Hayes'. This left a sixth man unidentified, and Gagnon named Hayes.
Harlon Block was correctly identified as a flag-raiser (not Hansen) in 1947 after Block's mother raised the issue. She'd "changed so many diapers on that boy's butt, I know it's my boy." Ira Hayes confirmed her suspicions.
In November 2014, amateur historians Eric Krelle and Stephen Foley said that their study of photographs and film footage taken that day showed that one of the flag-raisers was Franklin Sousley (not John Bradley), and that the person previously identified as Sousley was really Harold Schultz. The Marine Corps confirmed their conclusions in 2016.
Historian Stephen Foley, filmmaker Dustin Spence, and historian Brent Westemeyer contacted the Marine Corps shortly thereafter and said it was Harold Keller (not Rene Gagnon) in the photograph. The Marine Corps verified their conclusions in 2019.
Rosenthal had no idea if he'd actually gotten the shot. He sent his film to Guam to be developed.Upon seeing it, Associated Press photograph editor John Bodkin exclaimed "Here's one for all time!"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Controversy immediately surrounded the photo.
Following the second flag-raising, Rosenthal had the Marines of Easy Company pose for a "gung-ho" group shot. A few days later on Guam, Rosenthal was asked if he had posed the photograph. Thinking the question was referring to the "gung-ho" photo, he replied "Sure." Robert Sherrod, a Time-Life correspondent, told his editors in New York that Rosenthal had staged the flag-raising photograph, and the assertion was widely repeated on radio.
As a result, Rosenthal was repeatedly accused either of staging the photograph or covering up the first flag-raising.
Eyewitnesses, however, have long documented the correct story. The false version continues to make the rounds, however.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Both Mt. Suribachi flags are now in the National Marine Corps Museum near Quantico, Virginia.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Here is the first flag-raising, with the smaller flag taken from the USS Missoula. Photo by SSgt. Louis R. Lowery, USMC.
Left to right: 1st Lt. Harold Schrier (kneeling behind radioman's legs), Pfc. Raymond Jacobs (radioman reassigned from F Company), Sgt. Henry "Hank" Hansen wearing cap, holding flagstaff with left hand), Platoon Sgt. Ernest "Boots" Thomas (seated), Pvt. Phil Ward (holding lower flagstaff with his right hand), PhM2c. John Bradley, USN (holding flagstaff with both hands, his right hand above Ward's right hand and his left hand below.), Pfc. James Michels (holding M1 Carbine), and Cpl. Charles W. Lindberg (standing above Michels).
