Flag Rises on Suribachi: Iwo Jima Icon Captured

Joe Rosenthal's photograph of six men raising an American flag on a volcanic hilltop became the most reproduced image of World War II and one of the most iconic photographs ever taken. What most people do not know is that it captured the second flag-raising on Mount Suribachi, not the first, and that three of the six men in the photograph would be dead within weeks. The battle for Iwo Jima was already four days old and far behind schedule when a patrol from the 28th Marines reached the summit of Suribachi on the morning of February 23, 1945. The Japanese had honeycombed the extinct volcano with tunnels and bunkers, and reaching the top required fighting through concealed positions the entire way. The first flag went up around 10:20 a.m. on a small pipe, prompting cheers and horn blasts from ships offshore. Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, watching from the beach, told the Marine commander he wanted that flag. A larger replacement flag was sent up, and it was this second raising that Rosenthal captured. The six men in the photograph were Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon, John Bradley (later disputed), Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, and Michael Strank. Block was killed six days later by a mortar round. Sousley was shot by a sniper on March 21. Strank died from friendly fire on the same day as Block. Of the three survivors, Ira Hayes, a Pima Native American, struggled with alcoholism and the guilt of being celebrated while his friends died. He was found dead at age thirty-two. The battle continued for another month after the flag-raising, ultimately killing 6,800 Americans and virtually the entire Japanese garrison of 21,000. Rosenthal's photograph was transmitted by radiophoto to the United States, where it was published in Sunday newspapers two days later and immediately became the symbol of the Pacific war. It inspired the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington and was used to sell $26.3 billion in war bonds during the Seventh War Loan drive.