Battle for Iwo Jima

[Halas Hall]

I read today is the 80th anniversary of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi. RIP to these professional football players and coaches who died in combat:

Jack Chevigny died February 19, 1945

Howard "Smiley" Johnson died February 19, 1945

Jack Lummus died March 8, 1945, awarded the Medal of Honor

[RichardBak]

I did a CC article on those three Marines. It was kind of fascinating to find that most pro and college gridders who went into the service in WWII were in the Marines. And, as most were college grads or had some college behind them, many became officers.

Re the flag raising....I once flew to Minnesota to do a magazine piece on Chuck Lindberg, one of the Marines who raised the first flag on Mt. Suribachi. He was kind of bitter about all the attention being showered on the men who raised the second flag. Most people don't know there were two flag raisings, spaced about 2-3 hours apart, of which the second is the one immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's photo. There was a good Discovery Channel documentary on it.

Over the last few years, USMC investigations using the latest image-enhancing technology (including the FBI’s digital evidence lab and facial recognition software) proved that two of the Marines hoisting the second flag were misidentified for many years, including Navy corpsman John Bradley, whose son wrote the book Flags of Our Fathers which later became a Clint Eastwood film. Turns out Bradley knew all along that he wasn't in the famous photo (though he did help plant the first flag), which is why he guiltily avoided interviews over the years. Bradley was no phony--he earned a Navy Cross on Iwo for saving a Marine under withering fire and later was severely wounded himself. PFC Rene Gagnon was the other man mistakingly identified as being in the photo; he, too, knew he wasn't in it but chose to go along for the ride. There was a lot of confusion in the immediate aftermath of Rosenthal's photo being splashed across the front pages everywhere---there had been two flag raisings, many of the men involved had either been killed or evacuated, and the battle was still raging---but Washington hastily wanted the participants brought home to headline a crucial war loan drive.

The two Marines in Rosenthal's photo who have since regained their lost place in history are PFC Harold Schultz of Detroit and Cpl. Harold Keller of Brooklyn, Iowa. Both men knew early on that they were in the photo but chose to stay quiet about it. It’s just amazing that two men could be in what is arguably the most famous photo of World War II (and reportedly the most reproduced photo in American history) and keep it a secret their entire lives. In today’s fame-obsessed, look-at-me world, that probably says a lot more about us than it does about them.

My kid brother and I are ex-jarheads, two-year hitches in the early '70s, so we've always had an interest in Marine Corps history. As a tribute to the six men who raised the flag on Iwo 80 years ago today, I've attached a composite I put together of the Marines in Rosenthal's photo. It should be noted that the bottom row of Marines (Block, Sousley, Strank) were all killed in action within days of the event, so they never knew of their place in history. Semper Fi.

composite flag raisers Iwo.png (586.13 KiB) Viewed 9639 times

[Reaser]

I did a CC article on those three Marines. It was kind of fascinating to find that most pro and college gridders who went into the service in WWII were in the Marines. And, as most were college grads or had some college behind them, many became officers.

Re the flag raising....I once flew to Minnesota to do a magazine piece on Chuck Lindberg, one of the Marines who raised the first flag on Mt. Suribachi. He was kind of bitter about all the attention being showered on the men who raised the second flag. Most people don't know there were two flag raisings, spaced about 2-3 hours apart, of which the second is the one immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's photo. There was a good Discovery Channel documentary on it.

Over the last few years, USMC investigations using the latest image-enhancing technology (including the FBI’s digital evidence lab and facial recognition software) proved that two of the Marines hoisting the second flag were misidentified for many years, including Navy corpsman John Bradley, whose son wrote the book Flags of Our Fathers which later became a Clint Eastwood film. Turns out Bradley knew all along that he wasn't in the famous photo (though he did help plant the first flag), which is why he guiltily avoided interviews over the years. Bradley was no phony--he earned a Navy Cross on Iwo for saving a Marine under withering fire and later was severely wounded himself. PFC Rene Gagnon was the other man mistakingly identified as being in the photo; he, too, knew he wasn't in it but chose to go along for the ride. There was a lot of confusion in the immediate aftermath of Rosenthal's photo being splashed across the front pages everywhere---there had been two flag raisings, many of the men involved had either been killed or evacuated, and the battle was still raging---but Washington hastily wanted the participants brought home to headline a crucial war loan drive.

The two Marines in Rosenthal's photo who have since regained their lost place in history are PFC Harold Schultz of Detroit and Cpl. Harold Keller of Brooklyn, Iowa. Both men knew early on that they were in the photo but chose to stay quiet about it. It’s just amazing that two men could be in what is arguably the most famous photo of World War II (and reportedly the most reproduced photo in American history) and keep it a secret their entire lives. In today’s fame-obsessed, look-at-me world, that probably says a lot more about us than it does about them.

My kid brother and I are ex-jarheads, two-year hitches in the early '70s, so we've always had an interest in Marine Corps history. As a tribute to the six men who raised the flag on Iwo 80 years ago today, I've attached a composite I put together of the Marines in Rosenthal's photo. It should be noted that the bottom row of Marines (Block, Sousley, Strank) were all killed in action within days of the event, so they never knew of their place in history. Semper Fi.



composite flag raisers Iwo.png

Great stuff, Richard.

[Halas Hall]

Mr. Bak, Thank you for laying all this out. I concur it's great stuff.

Curious, who or what pushed the Corps to use improved technology to reexamine this episode?

Thanks again for this.

[RichardBak]

IIRC the documentary producers went to the Marine Corps historical branch with all the evidence they had compiled on their own, including digital analysis. It was compelling enough to cause the Marines to launch their own investigation. And of course, the Corps had access to the FBI lab and other resources.