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| Raising the second Flag: |
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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 as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war.
Three Marines in the photograph, Sergeant Michael Strank, Corporal Harlon Block
(misidentified as Sergeant Hank Hansen until January 1947), and Private First Class Franklin Sousley were killed in action over the next few days. The other three surviving flag-raisers in the photograph were Corporals (then Private First Class) Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, and Harold Schultz (misidentified as PhM2c. John Bradley until June 2016). Both men originally misidentified as flag raisers had 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. |
Harry Bluett Liversedge
The Commander of the 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division |
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Brigadier general
Navy Cross
21 September 1894, Volcano, California
25 November 1951, Bethesda, Maryland
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28th Marines, 5th Marine Division
Pine Grove, California |
| Navy Cross Citation |
Liversedge, Harry Bluett Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps Commanding Officer, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division
Date of Action: February 19 - March 27, 1945
The Navy Cross is presented to Harry Bluett Liversedge, Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism as Commanding Officer of the Twenty-Eighth Marines, Fifth Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, from 19 February to 27 March 1945. Landing on the fire-swept beaches twenty-two minutes after H-Hour, Colonel Liversedge gallantly led his men in the advance inland before executing a difficult turning maneuver to the south preparatory to launching the assault on Mount Suribachi. Under his inspiring leadership, his Regiment effected a partial seizure of a formidable Japanese position consisting of caves, pillboxes and blockhouses, until it was halted by intense enemy resistance which caused severe casualties. Braving the heavy hostile fire, he traversed the front lines to reorganize his troops and, by his determination and aggressiveness, enabled his men to overrun the Japanese position by nightfall. By his fighting spirit and intrepid leadership, Colonel Liversedge contributed materially to the capture of Mount Suribachi, and his unwavering devotion to duty throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. |
| For more information see H. B. Liversedge on Wikipedia |
| Picture H. B. Liversedge: | | No copyright, see Wikipedia |
| Michael Strank |
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Sergeant
Purple Heart
10 November 1919, Oriabyna, Czechoslovakia
01 March 1945 on Iwo Jima
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2nd Battalion, 28th Marines
Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia |
| For more information see M. Strank on Wikipedia |
| Picture M. Strank: | | No copyright, see Wikipedia |
Harlon Henry Block
misidentified as Sergeant Hank Hansen until January 1947 |
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Corporal
Purple Heart
06 November 1924, Yorktown, Texas
01 March 1945 on Iwo Jima
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2nd Battalion, 28th Marines
Marine Military Academy Grounds, Harlingen, Texas |
| For more information see H. H. Block on Wikipedia |
| Picture H. H. Block: | | No copyright, see Wikipedia |
| Franklin Runyon Sousley |
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Private First Class
Purple Heart
19 September 1925, Hill Top, Kentucky
21 March 1945 on Iwo Jima
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2nd Battalion, 28th Marines
Elizaville Cemetery, Kentucky |
| For more information see F. R. Sousley on Wikipedia |
| Picture F. R. Sousley: | | No copyright, see Wikipedia |
| René Arthur Gagnon |
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Corporal
Victory Medal
07 March 1925, Manchester, New Hampshire, USA
12 October 1979
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2nd Battalion, 28th Marines
Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia |
| For more information see R. A. Gagnon on Wikipedia |
Rene Gagnon, his wife, and his son visited Tokyo and Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima during the 20th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima in 1965. He worked at Delta Air Lines as a ticket agent, opened his own travel agency, and was a maintenance director of an apartment complex in Manchester. He died at work in Manchester, in 1979 at the age of 54. |
| Picture R. A. Gagnon: | | No copyright, see Wikipedia |
| Ira Hamilton Hayes |
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Sergeant
Commendation Medal with
Combat "V"
12 January 1923, Sacaton, Arizona
24 January 1955, Bapchule, Arizona
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2nd Battalion, 28th Marines
Arlington National Cemetery, 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 memorialized in the 1961 motion picture "The Outsider", starring Tony Curtis as Hayes, and the folk song "The Ballad of Ira Hayes", written by Peter LaFarge and recorded by Johnny Cash in 1964. Bob Dylan later covered the song, as did Kinky Friedman. |
| For more information see I. H. Hayes on Wikipedia |
| Picture I. H. Hayes: | | No copyright, see Wikipedia |
Harold Henry Schultz
misidentified as PhM2c. John Bradley until June 2016 |
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Corporal
Purple Heart
28 January 1925, Detroit, Michigan
16 May 1995
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2nd Battalion, 28th Marines
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, California |
| For more information see H. H. Schultz on Wikipedia |
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