2 Flags, 2 Photos, 9 Men, and a Lot of Controversy!

The Marines raised a flag on Suribachi. The Marines then raised another flag on Suribachi. Joe Rosenthal took a picture of the second flag raising. The Secretary of the Navy requested the first flag. Marine Commander “Howlin’ Mad” Smith said, “Like Hell!” The Secretary of the Navy also praised the flag raising, saying, “...the raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years!”

Fighting on Iwo would last for 31 more days. Nearly 6,000 Marines and Naval personnel would die. Of the original 21,000+ Japanese defenders of Iwo, 214 would be captured, and an estimated 300 would flee. The rest were either killed in battle or committed suicide to avoid capture. 

Of the 6 flag raisers initially identified in the photo of the second flag raising, Mike Strank, Hank Hansen, and Franklin Sousley would die fighting on Iwo Jima. They would not get to participate in the pomp and circumstances that the other three would be forced to participate in.

17 hours after Rosenthal took his photo a copy was transmitted to AP headquarters in NYC and distributed to media entities throughout the US. Associated Press photo editor John Bodkin first saw the photo and said, “Here’s one for all time!”

President FDR saw the photo and decided it would be a valuable tool in the effort to fund the war effort. The US had been supplying our Allies worldwide for nearly six years, and waging war for 3 and 1/2 years. In spite of the six previous war loan drives, the Treasury was nearly bankrupt. More money was needed, but the feeling was that it would be difficult to raise the money needed now that Germany had been defeated. Many people seemingly lost interest because they thought it was soon going to be over. 

Controversy of another kind in regard to the Rosenthal photo also began to develop. After shooting the second flag raising photo, Rosenthal posed some of the men around the flag and took what is now called “the Gung Ho Shot”. It was marked with the identies of every man in the photo, and no one at the time knew how vital this photo would become in the future in regard to correcting mistaken identities.

Word began to spread throughout the US, after people were told that the famous photo was of the second flag raising, that Rosenthal staged the shot, and that it wasn’t as spontaneous as the people were being led to believe. A few days after the photo was taken, Rosenthal was back in Guam. He was asked if he had posed the flag photo, and he said, “Sure!” He thought the question was in regard to the “Gung Ho!” Photo, and not the photo of the flag raising.

Many in the US now began to feel that the photo was a phony, and that it was indeed staged. Robert Sherrod, from Time-Life went so far as to say that Rosenthal should be stripped of the Pulitzer Prize that he had won with his photo.Rosenthal denied the claims and insisted the photo was indeed spontaneous.

Investigations by the media, the War Department, and the Marine Corps itself proved the fact that the photo was legitimate. The 7th War Loan Drive began in earnest.

Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon, and Doc Bradley were recalled from their duty stations and participated in numerous fund raisers throughout the country. They staged the planting of the flag in DC, NYC, and even at Chicago’s Soldier Field. Crowds were large, and excitement was rampant. The three soon became legendary figures. More importantly, the money began pouring in. 

Ira Hayes began having serious issues with the bond drive and how it was being presented to the public. Speculation now was that he was suffering from severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, though that diagnosis was undetermined at the time. Hayes felt that he abandoned his buddies who were still fighting. He also mourned the loss of so many of his fellow Marines, most notably Mike Strank.  He was an Indian from the Pima Reservation in AZ, and he didn’t want to let his people or his heritage down. He began drinking heavily in an attempt to escape his fears, his loss, and his sadness. He was often drunk during the bond drive, and often was in trouble. One particular instance saw a drunken Ira attacking the owner of a diner and some other people with a chair because the diner didn’t serve Indians. Doc Bradley saved him from arrest by telling the police who they were. Hayes’ commanders, however, weren’t impressed with his behavior. They decided that he was a risk to the entire operation, so they sent him back into combat before the war drive was over.

Rene Gagnon had a girlfriend who accompanied the men on the drive. He acknowledged his part in the flag raising, but said he only played a minor part in it. However, he relished the fame the men were gaining on the war drive, and hoped to use it to his advantage when the war was over. 

Doc Bradley reluctantly participated in the war loan drive. He also said that he only played a minor part in the war. He said he was no hero, and that the true heroes were the men who never came home. He never talked about his war experience to his family, he avoided requests for speaking engagements after the war, and he refused to do interviews with the media. His family would turn away reporters at the door, and would tell anyone who called that he wasn’t home. Only after he died did his son James learn about his father’s wartime legacy.

It was during the war loan drive that additional controversy started to arise. There were questions over the identity of the flag raisers. Bradley and Hayes both said that one of the men was misidentified.They said that Hank Hansen was not in the photo. Both said that a Marine named Harlon Block was the true man in the photo. The drive organizers and the Marine Corps dismissed the claim. Block had also been killed in action. Also, it was too late to change things. They would continue under the premise that Hank Hansen was indeed in the photo. 

After he returned from his service, Ira Hayes walked and hitchhiked 1300 miles,  from the reservation in AZ to Welasco, TX. He went to the home of Harlon Block, where he met Mrs. Block and told her correctly that her son was in the photo. She said that she knew it all along. She recognized Harlon when she first saw the photo, but no one she told believed her. The Marine Corps ignored her, and she felt that nothing could be done.

Shortly afterward, the Marine Corps gave into pressure and conducted an internal investigation. Belle Block,Harlon’s mother, had sent a letter to her Congressman telling him what Hayes had told her. She pled with him to not ignore her, and to ask the Marines to investigate. An inquiry was begun. In January of 1947 the Marine Corps officially admitted the mistake. They acknowledged that Harlon Block was indeed in the photo. Hank Hansen was not. This came in large part from an interview they formally conducted with Ira Hayes. They concluded that;

“ Ira remembered what Rene Gagnon and John Bradley could not have remembered, because they did not join the little cluster until the last moment: that it was Harlon [Block], Mike [Strank], Franklin [Sousley] and [Hayes] who had ascended Suribachi midmorning to lay telephone wire; it was Rene [Gagnon] who had come along with the replacement flag. Hansen had not been part of this action.”

During the dedication of the Marine Corps monument on 10 November 1954, Belle Block was invited to and attended the ceremony. Hank Hansen’s mother was not invited. 

This was not the end of the misidentification controversy. In 2016, it was determined after a thorough investigation that Corpsman John “Doc” Bradley was not in the flag raising photo. Franklin Sousley was in the place originally accredited to Bradley. Marine PFC Harold Schultz was now identified as the 6th Marine in the photo. 

This still was not the end of the misidentification controversy. Further investigation revealed that another mistake was made. In October of 2019, the Marine Corps admitted the mistake. Rene Gagnon was not in Rosenthal’s photo, and was not one of the flag raisers. Marine PFC Harold Keller was now put into Gagnon’s place in the photo.

Ira Hayes had a few speaking engagements to Native American support groups, schools, and other such organizations, but he never could escape his PTSD and his alcoholism. He had a small part portraying himself in the movie, “The Sands of Iwo Jima.” On 24 January 1955, Hayes was found dead in a ditch near an adobe hut on the Pima Reservation near Sacaton, AZ. He is buried in Section 34, Grave 479A of Arlington Cemetery. At his funeral Rene Gagnon said of Ira,  "Let's say he had a little dream in his heart that someday the Indian would be like the white man — be able to walk all over the United States."

Hayes was depicted in various movies throughout the years. In 1960, he was played by Lee Marvin in the movie, “The American”. In 1961, he was played by Tony Curtis in the movie, “The Outsider”. In 2006, he was played by Adam Beach in the movie, “Flags of Our Fathers”. He also was the subject of the song, “The Ballad of Ira Hayes.”

What can we learn from all of this? We can learn that no matter how much research is done, mistakes can be made. We also can learn never to stop studying history. Even those who were there can sometimes get it wrong. Question, study, and learn.

I forgot to add that the 7th War Loan Drive was the most successful of all. While the goal was to raise $9 billion, the six-week drive raised more than $26 billion.