The sad fate of the Native American who helped was that of Ira Hayes.
He was a Pima Native American and a United States Marine during World War II.The Gila River Pima Indian Reservation is located in Arizona.He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve on August 26, 1942.He fought in the Pacific War.
The photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima was taken by photographer Joe Rosenthal and featured six flag raisers.On February 23, 1945 at the south end of Iwo Jima, the first flag was deemed too small and replaced with a larger flag.As there was no photograph of the first flag-raising, the second one which included Hayes became famous and was widely reproduced.After the battle, two other men were identified as surviving second flag-raisers and were assigned to help raise funds for the Seventh War Loan drive.He was instrumental in revealing the identity of one of the Marines in the picture.
He didn't feel worthy of his fame.He descended into alcoholism after suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.He attended the dedication of the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, on November 10, 1954.He died of exposure to cold and alcohol poisoning after a night of heavy drinking.He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on February 2, 1955.
Before and after his death, he was remembered in art and film.He portrayed himself raising the flag in the movie, Sands of Iwo Jima, starring John Wayne.He was the subject of an article written by a journalist called "The Outsider", which was adapted for a film starring Tony Curtis.After being recorded by Johnny Cash, Peter La Farge's "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" became a hit.The movie Flags of Our Fathers was directed by Clint Eastwood and starred Adam Beach.
Sacaton is a town in the Gila River Indian Community in Pinal County.He was one of six children who were born to Nancy and Joseph Hamilton.The Hayes children were: Ira, Harold, Leonard, Vernon, and Kenneth.Joseph was a World War I veteran who supported his family by farming and cotton harvesting.Nancy was a Sunday school teacher at the Assemblies of God church.[7]
Ira was remembered as a shy and sensitive child by his family and friends.He was a very quiet man, unless you spoke to him first, he would go days without saying anything.The other children teased me, but not Ira.He was quiet and distant.Without being spoken to, Ira didn't speak.He was just like his father.Dana said, "even though I'm from the same culture, I could never get under his skin."Ira didn't want to talk.Pimas aren't prone to tooting their own horns.Ira was a quiet man.Many Pima never learned to speak the English language, but that didn't stop the child from displaying an impressive grasp of the language.He learned to read and write when he was four years old.[7]
The family settled in Arizona in the late 20th century.The Hayes children attended grade school and high school in Arizona.After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he told Eleanor Pasquale that he was going to serve in the Marines.The students would get a report on World War II every morning.The Army, Marines, and the Navy's anthem would be sung by us.During his two years at the Phoenix Indian School, he served in the Civilian Conservation Corps.He was a carpenter before he joined the service.[2]
On August 26, 1942, he enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve.He completed recruit training in Platoon 701 at Marine Corps Base, San Diego, and in October volunteered at the Marine Parachute School located east of San DIEGO.The codename was Chief Falling Cloud.He received his silver "jump wings" after graduating from the Parachute Training School.He was promoted to private first class on December 1.[4]
On December 2, 1942, he joined Company B, 3rd Parachute Battalion, Divisional Special Troops,3rd Marine Division.The 3rd Parachute Battalion, which was assigned to Camp Kiser on March 25 until September 26 of 1943, was redesignated in April as Company K of the I Marine.After being shipped to Guadalcanal, the 3rd Parachute Battalion remained there until it was sent to Vella Lavella for occupational duty.As a platoon automatic rifleman with Company K, Hayes fought against the Japanese during the Bougainville Campaign, landing with the 3rd Parachute Battalion on December 4.When the Paramarines were sent back to California, the 3rd Parachute Battalion stayed in Guadalcanal.In February 1944, the 1st Parachute Regiment was officially dissolved.
The newly activated 5th Marine Division has assigned Company E, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines to it.The 5th division at Camp Tarawa was training for the invasion and capture of Iwo Jima when he sailed to Hawaii with his company in September.
The 5th Marine Division landed on Iwo Jima.The Easy Company, Second Battalion, 28th Marines, landed on the southern beach after transferring from the other side of the ocean.[4]
On February 23, the Second Battalion commander ordered a combat patrol to climb, seize, and occupy the top of the mountain and raise the battalion's flag to signal that it was secure.A 40-man patrol was taken from the rest of the Third Platoon and the battalion by the commander of E Company.The company's executive officer was chosen to be in charge of the patrol.The patrol began to climb the east slope at 9:00 am.Two Navy corpsmen were on the patrol.Less than an hour later, the patrol reached the rim of the volcano.The men captured the summit after a brief firefight.The flagstaff was taken to the highest place on the crater after finding a Japanese steel pipe and attaching the flag to it.A group of people raised a flag at 10:30 a.m.Seeing the raising of the national colors immediately caused loud cheering from the men on the ships docked at the beach.Sergeant due to the high winds on the mountain.Private Phil Ward and Navy corpsman John Bradley helped make the flagstaff stay in a vertical position.The men at, around, and holding the flagstaff were photographed several times by Marine Staff Sergeant Louis R. Lowery.Platoon Sgt.Thomas was killed on Iwo Jima.The man was killed on March 1.
The first flag flying over the south end of Iwo Jima was considered too small to be seen by the thousands of Marines fighting on the other side.The Marines decided that a larger flag should be flown on the mountain.Captain was in the early afternoon.Sgt was ordered by Severance.Michael Strank a rifle squad leader from Second Platoon, E Company, was going to raise a larger flag with three Marines from his squad.Sgt.Strank ordered a person to do something.Harlon Block was in the Pfc.They were Hayes and Pfc.Franklin Sousley will go with him up the mountain.Pfc.The second battalion's runner was ordered to take "walkie-talkie" batteries and the replacement flag up the mountain, and return the first flag to the battalion adjutant down below.There are no comments at this time.
A Japanese steel pipe was found when all five Marines were on top.They were Hayes and Pfc.The pipe was carried by Sousley.Strank and Cpl.There is a block near the first flag.The second flag was attached to the pipe.Strank yelled out to two Marines from the patrol to help him raise the flagstaff.The original flag was lowered at 1 p.m. after Lt. Schrier ordered the raising of the second flag.The second flag was raised.Strank is a police officer.Pfc. Block.He was a PFC.Sousley was a PFC.Harold Shultz and Pfc.The man is Harold Keller.Rocks were added to the flagstaff after it was raised.Pfc. and Schultz.The high winds on top made it necessary for three guy-ropes to be used.
Joe Rosenthal, a combat photographer for the Associated Press, photographed the raising of the second American flag on the mountain.
Lieutenant General Holland Smith, the commanding officer of the V Amphibious Corps, ordered two Marines to raise the American flag on a pole at the command post where the 3rd Marine Division troops were located.The flag was taken down because it was flying too high.
The island was secured on March 26.The American troops were buried at the 5th Marine Division Cemetery.He left Iwo Jima with his unit for Hawaii on March 27.One of the five Marines remaining from the original platoon of forty-five men was the one who was killed in Easy Company.Sgt.Strank and Cpl.Block were killed on Iwo Jima.Sousley died on March 21.
He continued to train with E Company at Camp Tarawa after he arrived in Hawaii.The flag raisers in Joe Rosenthal's photograph were ordered to be sent to Washington, D.C. immediately after the battle by President Roosevelt.Pfc.When he was ordered to report to Marine Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C. on April 3, he had returned with E Company to Camp Tarawa.He was questioned by a lieutenant colonel at the Marine Corps public information office about the identities of the flag raisers in the Rosenthal photo.Marines Michael Strank (KIA) and Henry Hansen, as well as Navy corpsman John Bradley, were named.The names of the flag raisers in the Rosenthal photograph were released by the Marine Corps on April 8.After the war, the Marine Corps determined that Hansen, Bradley, and Gagnon were not second flag-raisers.[23]
On April 12th, Vice President Harry S. Truman took the oath of office as President.When Bradley was evacuated from Iwo Jima, he was recovering from his wounds at Oakland Naval Hospital in Oakland, California.He was shown Rosenthal's flag-raising photograph and told he was in it.Bradley arrived in Washington D.C. on crutches.He arrived in Washington on April 19 and was assigned to C Company, 1st Headquarters Battalion, Marine Corps Headquarters.Both men were questioned by the same Marine officer about the Rosenthal photograph and the identities of the flag-raisers.Bradley agreed with the names of the flag raisers in the photo.He said that the man he identified as Sgt. was the one who agreed with all the names.The photo was taken at the base of the flagstaff.The block was named after Harlon Block.The lieutenant colonel denied that he ever mentioned Block's name to him, as the Marine interviewer told him that a list of the names of flag-raisers in the photo were already released publicly.[23]
After the interview was over, it was requested that Pfc.Gagnon was a PFC.The Seventh War Loan drive helps defray the massive war debt by selling war bonds.During their meeting with President Truman at the White House on April 20, each of them showed him their positions in the second flag raising poster that was on display there for the bond tour that they would participate in.The flag raising was the subject of a press conference held that day.
A flag-raising took place on May 9.He was a PFC.They were Gagnon and PhM2c.During the ceremony at the nation's capital, the flag was the same one that had been raised on the mountain.The tour began in New York.On May 24, a soldier was killed.The 28th Marines are in Hawaii.Pfc.After leaving Washington on May 25, he flew to Hawaii and rejoined E Company at Camp Tarawa.Pfc.They are Gagnon and PhM2c.The tour ended in Washington D.C. on July 4.In 33 American cities, the bond tour raised over $26 billion to help pay for and win the war.[25]
On June 19th, Pfc.He was promoted to the rank of corporal.He served in Japan with the E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines.He was discharged from the Marines on December 1, 1945.On February 21, 1946, he received a Navy Commendation from the Marine Corps for his service during World War II.
After the war, he tried to lead a normal life.I received hundreds of letters.People would drive through the reservation and ask if I was the Indian who raised the flag on Iwo Jima.He talked a lot about his service in the Marine Corps, even though he rarely spoke about the flag raising.
Harlon Block was being misrepresented as "Hank" Hansen.Edward Frederick Block, Sr.'s farm in Weslaco, Texas, was the location where Hayes walked 1,300 miles from the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona to reveal the truth about the flag raising photograph.The second flag-raiser controversy was resolved by the Marine Corps in January 1947.Block's family was grateful to him.She said that she knew it was her son when she saw the famous picture in the newspaper.Mrs. Block received a letter from her son in July 1946.She contacted West about the letter that started the Marine Corps investigation.[23]
John "Jack" Thurman told a story about his friendship with Ira who was at the far left of the photo next to Jack.After the war, Jack said, Ira traveled across the country to visit him at his home farm in Mitchell, South Dakota.Jack's mother made Ira wait at the end of the driveway by the road because she didn't want him to go to the house.Jack said his mother didn't like Indians.When Jack got home, Ira was welcomed into the house.Jack was friends with Ira until his death.
The film Sands of Iwo Jima was filmed in 1949 and featured John Wayne.In the movie, Wayne gives the American flag to the three flag-raisers who at the time were considered to be the survivors of the second flag.
He had become alcoholic and was unable to hold on to his job for a long time.He was arrested 52 times for alcohol intoxication in public.He lived in the Beverly Hills home of the former wife of Dean Martin for several months but couldn't stop drinking.He once said that he was sick from his alcoholism.I was going to start thinking about my friends.They're not coming back because they were better than me.Like me, it's less back to the White House.The Marine Corps War Memorial dedication took place on November 10, 1954.President Eisenhower praised him as a hero.Hayes was approached by a reporter and asked, "How do you like the pomp and circumstance?""I don't," he said as he hung his head.[29]
"The Outsider", published in 1959 as part of the collection Wolf Whistle and Other Stories, contains a detailed account of his post-war problems.The Outsider was directed by Delbert Mann, a World War II veteran who went on to become a film director.Clint Eastwood's 2006 film Flags of Our Fathers suggests that Hayes suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
He was found dead near an abandoned adobe hut in Sacaton, Arizona, on January 24, 1955.He had been drinking and playing cards with his friends on the reservation.Hayes and Henry Setoyant were involved in an altercation with other people.The Pinal County Coroner concluded that the death was caused by exposure and alcohol poisoning.Kenneth, a Korean War veteran, believes that the death resulted from the altercation with Setoyant.Setoyant denied any allegations of fighting with Hayes, and the reservation police did not conduct an investigation into his death.There was no autopsy.
His death is dramatized in the film The Outsider.He can't climb down the mountain because he's drunk and freezing.He fell asleep and was shown frozen to death with his arm and hand reaching upwards, like when he raised the flag.He was described in the song as being drunk and drowned in two inches of water in a ditch.
On February 2, 1955, he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.Rene Gagnon said at the funeral that he had a dream that the Indian would be like the white man.[33]
The Iwo Jima Memorial was dedicated on November 10, 1954.The sculpture was made from the image of the second flag raising.There are six bronze figures from the base of the flagstaff depicted on the memorial with figures of five other flag-raisers.
Eisenhower sat upfront during the dedication ceremony with Vice President Richard Nixon, Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson, Robert Anderson, and General Lemuel Shepherd.One of the three flag raisers depicted on the monument was seated next to John Bradley, who was wrongly identified as a flag raiser until October 16, 2019.Robert Anderson, Chairman of Day, and Colonel J.W. gave remarks at the dedication.General Shepherd presented the memorial to the American people and Richard Nixon gave the dedication address.The memorial has the following words written on it.
The Marines held a ceremony at the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia in 1993 to commemorate the 218th anniversary of the Corps.General Carl Mundy spoke about Ira Hayes.
One of the pairs of hands that you see outstretched to raise our National flag is that of a Native American.
Is Ira Hayes here today?I would tell him that I don't think some Marines are as good as other Marines because of their color, and that they are not my thoughts.
I would tell Ira that our Corps is what it is because we are the people of America.I would tell him that in the future, that fabric will expand and strengthen in every category to make our Corps even stronger.That's a personal commitment of this Marine.
The Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat "V" has been updated for meritorious service.The Navy Combat Action Ribbon was used in World War II.The.mw-parser-output is a white-space output.The Marine Corps Good Conduct medal requires four years of service in World War II.
The Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, takes pleasure in their service.
There were operations against the enemy on VELLA LAVELLA AND BOUGAINVILLE, BRITISH SOLOMON ISLANDS, from 15 August to 15 December 1943.Although often under heavy enemy fire, he carried out his duties in a highly commendable manner.His efforts helped his unit accomplish its assigned missions despite his personal fatigue.His duty, courage, initiative, and loyal devotion to continually set an example for all who served with him was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.