70 years ago...

Yesterday actually.
The famous photo was taken of the US Marines raising the flag on top of Mt Suribachi on Iwo Jima.
Nearly 7000 Americans died on that island and another 20,000 were wounded.
The Japanese lost 22,000 men - all but a handful killed.
For a short but interesting read, follow the link below.


Click Here

I was only 12 then and 8 years later I was drafted. Hal

I saw a photo of that with Brian Williams helping.

Seriously, one of the two most famous photos taken during WWII.

Dean

Very interesting web site and information.

Thanks for sharing the link with us.

I have seen stories about this photo and it so sad. If I remember correctly two of the guys were dead like one or two days later? Out of all of them something like one or two got home alive? Offa.

Thank you for posting this. My sister's father in law saw it happen in person. He said the flag was raised on top of a hill and he was at the base of the hill watching. He passed away three years ago.

Sure, we can read about the virtually limitless acts of heroism of our military people in WWII. We can recall the trememdous efforts of the enemies to keep us from conquering them, and then take a lot pride in the fact we overcame these obstacles and totally conquered the enemies, then occupied their countries, reestablished and "steered" their governments, helped them rebuild their economies and they in turn, in time, have become some of our staunchest allies. We saw to it that Germany, Italy, or Japan could not, as a nation, or from within their nation, develop any force that could be a peril to our nation or other nations of the world.
But, what have we done since then, what has become of the nations and their forces we have since conquered? The only war we have really won was the Cold War...The real danger of Soviet Russia and Communism....Doing that with a show of force that our potential enemy could not strategically equal or by it's presence could risk trying to conquer us. We conquered them with a strategic force of bombers and ICBM's, potentially "outgunning" them and in time outlasting them economically, in that era at least...But, like Germany after WWI, they are now "regrouping", economically and militarily and may present a serious menace to us and the rest of the world in time. We won a lot of battles in Korea, but we didn't occupy the enemy's country or do much of anything to eliminate the possibility of the enemy being a constant threat to future peace in the area. I don't think recalling the epic of the Viet Nam War and what it turned out to be is needed here, and even Desert Storm didn't result in any sort of lasting peace for people in the general area of the conflict. So then, in time, we've found reason to literally overrun Iraq and dispose of it's tyrannical leader. But, now we learn we apparently have left it in total disarray as far as assuring it has qualified leadership and economic, social, and civil stability.
So, Hurrah For, and God Bless Ira Hayes and his heroic campanions on Mt Surabachi(sp).... For now we should just try and forget the wars we've won but really haven't finished since....

I believe one of the Marines in this picture was Ira Hayes.
Ballad of Ira Hayes

There's a replication of that at the Marine Corps/Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington, VA.

It's constructed so that if you keep your eye on the flag as you walk around it, the flag seems to be raising.

A tour guide said, "This memorial shows six men raising the flag on Mr. Suribachi on Iwo Jima. Yet if you count the hands on the flagpole you will find there are 13. There are those who say the 13th hand is the hand of God".

My grandfather, a WWII marine veteran, later retired a chief warrant officer in the Marine reserves, hand sculpted in clay what is in the photo, then used that to make a mold, which he then cast it in solid bronze or brass as a book end. He sculpted the globe and anchor and cast it as well, for the opposite end. They reside on my shelf now. He did some illustration work for the U.S.M.C, he was an extremely talented artist. I saw one piece he did of a landing craft, but I don't recall that I have seen it or found it since, though I do have some things stashed for so long I cannot recall everything, though I have gathered most of his works and secured them in a tote for now. I may have the mold, it was made of plywood, and looked like plaster of paris or something similar was used. When I was a kid, I remember finding the actual clay sculptures that someone literally tossed in a drawer with junk, but with the actual pieces I assume I could make a mold or see if the original is intact. I had a book that came from him, depicting by mostly photos of what happened on Iwo Jima. The one thing that I will never forget was the photo of a deceased marine with a bullet puncture through his helmet, still clutching his M1 Garand with a caption that read, "this marine was not so lucky" There were photos of all of what happened, it was graphic and if you read it, well being a kid, you knew this was a nasty affair to defeat this well entrenched enemy. Someone swiped that book, as I have not seen it in years, was about 8x11 and 1/2' thick, and it resided on the top shelf of my closet when I was a kid, away from everything else, given some of the graphic nature of the photos. My uncle was with the 105th infantry and was embedded with the marines throughout the pacific theater, he managed to survive some of the worst fighting and conditions, was given 2 bronze stars, and a purple heart if I recall. He's listed on a website, I have a link to it somewhere. One can't really imagine what it was like unless they actually saw it for themselves. It took him 2 years to filter out the bad things and come home to raise a large family, passed a year and half ago.

America still the land of the free and and the home of the brave and the greatest nation on the face of the earth, you bet ur sweet a$$ we are because of men like these, thank you to all those who gave and for those who gave all in service of this great nation

Of the six men that raised the flag only three survived the battle.Franklin Sousley,Harlon Block and Michael Stark were killed later In the battle.John Bradley,Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes survived.

I was on Iwo Jima three times 1968-69 there is a monument where the flag was raised. After we gave it back to Japan they put up another monument and I think later on the was one put up by the marine veterans.

(quoted from post at 14:13:20 02/24/15) Of the six men that raised the flag only three survived the battle.Franklin Sousley,Harlon Block and Michael Stark were killed later In the battle.John Bradley,Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes survived.

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Rene Gagnon was from Hooksett NH he passed on only about three years ago.

(quoted from post at 20:45:48 02/24/15)

(quoted from post at 14:13:20 02/24/15) Of the six men that raised the flag only three survived the battle.Franklin Sousley,Harlon Block and Michael Stark were killed later In the battle.John Bradley,Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes survived.

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Rene Gagnon was from Hooksett NH he passed on only about three years ago.

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think your dates are a little off. Rene Gagnon died in 1979, Ira Hayes in 1955, and John Bradley in 1994.

"was given 2 bronze stars, and a purple heart"

Might I suggest that he [i:85d9cd35f2]earned[/i:85d9cd35f2] them?
Some may think it semantics, but they're not just given.
My sincere thanks to him and his family for their service.

Thanks for the reminder UD, I never tire of our history.
I often wonder if our future will be as bright as these dim times.

Thanks for the post UD. I've seen some of the private pics from there. Had to walk away after seeing only a handful.

(quoted from post at 21:06:53 02/24/15)

(quoted from post at 20:45:48 02/24/15)

(quoted from post at 14:13:20 02/24/15) Of the six men that raised the flag only three survived the battle.Franklin Sousley,Harlon Block and Michael Stark were killed later In the battle.John Bradley,Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes survived.

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Rene Gagnon was from Hooksett NH he passed on only about three years ago.

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think your dates are a little off. Rene Gagnon died in 1979, Ira Hayes in 1955, and John Bradley in 1994.

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It must have been the passing of his widow Pauline in 2006, that I remember being in the news.

That is funny you said that, and I initially wrote "earned" but it sounded odd to me, as if you have earned something at a job. I actually toiled at what word to use here. I highly respected the man. He was "awarded" 2 bronze stars and that is all his obituary states. I thought he was wounded as well. I'll have to ask my father, as he was there when my grandparents went to pick him up at Ft Dix or Hamilton when he was discharged. My father stated they were huddled in tents, bitter cold etc. He served from '39 to'45. He should know if that was left out or if in fact he was never wounded in action, something hard to believe given the intense fighting including hand to hand. Its hard to remember all the relatives so its possible I may not have remembered this detail correctly or associated it with him, given most if not all relatives served.

Correction: he was a great uncle to me, being the brother of my grandmother. In later years I did visit him and his family, bumped elbows with him a few times at one get together. He and most relatives were local, for some reason we never socialized all that much, but I remember he was a champion of family and he visited my mother and myself one Christmas morning, as I think he knew it was a rough time due to my parents divorce, he and a cousin(his daughter) came by to check on us, visit, mind you he had 8 or 9 kids himself. My father spoke very highly of him. By hap chance while doing some work on our property in the early summer of 2009, my father was actually here and Ralph was with his family having lunch across the street, I somehow discovered this and got them together one last time, wish I had a photo of that, he was fading at that time, but knew who my father was. It made me happy to see this short reunion, and I don't really believe it was all that much of a hap chance, things happen for a reason.

Jerry's thread denoting the anniversary of Iwo Jima reminded me of him, given his involvement in the pacific theater.

His ID is 20201754 on that list. U.S.Army 27th Division, 105th Infantry, Company D
Ralph

27th Infantry Division 20201754

(quoted from post at 11:38:25 02/24/15) I saw a photo of that with Brian Williams helping.

Seriously, one of the two most famous photos taken during WWII.

Dean

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TOO FUNNY!