By TomL
Famous people I have met. A Veteran came to a meeting I was attending some years ago. I listened to this veteran’s story. He was being escorted around by other veterans helping him tell his story. According to his report, he was the last person alive that raised the flag on Iwo Jima and he felt obligated to tell the true story. He started: It was a day of a lot of dying. His fellow soldiers were falling all around him. After and during the battle a small group of solders put up the flag to show the ships and other solders that they had taken that part of the island. A high ranking military officer was watching with a pair of binoculars from a ship that was just off shore. He was struck by the sight of the flag raising. So after the battle he decided it would make a great photo op to send back home to USA. So he contacted his photographer to meet him on shore. The original men were no longer there that raised the flag so he asked some soldiers that were there to pose for the picture. He had acquired a much larger flag for the photo op. They took the picture which you see today but without the original soldiers in it. According to this veteran some of the original men were fighting on the other side of the island while the picture was being taken. This veteran telling the story said he would be able to rest better after he told the story for his comrades who had all passed away. I was touch by his story. I recently went to the internet and acquired some information so I will inject into the story here. Because of this story, history was changed. You will also see that the Marine Corps investigated and corrected the original story.
Off the internet:
There were six Flag Raisers on the famous Iwo Jima photo, four in the front line and two in back. The front four are (left to right) Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, Harold Schultz and Harlon Block. The back two are Michael Strank (behind Sousley) and Rene Gagnon (behind Schultz). Strank, Block and Sousley would die shortly afterwards. Bradley, Hayes and Gagnon became national heroes within weeks.
2016 update: The Marine Corps investigated and determined that Harold Henry Schultz was among the 6 in the famous photograph of the 2nd flag raising instead of John Bradley.
Publishers Note: This Publisher thanks all who have sacrificed themselves and family member sacrifices to keep America Great and Keep America Safe.
