Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

This is the most famous photograph of World War II and possibly the most famous photograph in history.



In the photo, five Marines and one Navy corpsman are raising a flag on the top of Mount Suribachi. Published stateside, this photograph became unimaginably famous.

Although Mount Suribachi (which means mortar, as in mortar and pestle, in Japanese) was the most tactically important location on Iwo Jima (which means "sulfur island"), the battle continued for a month after this photograph was taken. In spite of the continuing carnage, the image of an American flag going up on Iwo Jima inspired hope in Americans. The three surviving flag-raisers, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon, and John Bradley went on a bond tour and raised $26.3 billion for the war.

To me, what is amazing about this photograph is not the impact it had on the US during the war, but the man on the very end at the left, Ira Hayes. Ira Hayes was a Pima Indian from Arizona. He was apparently a model Marine, until he was recalled from Iwo Jima for the bond tour in the United States. He said, "It was supposed to be soft duty, but I couldn't take it. Everywhere we went people shoved drinks in our hands and said 'You're a Hero!' We knew we hadn't done that much but you couldn't tell them that." He became a serious alcoholic and died ten years after he left Iwo Jima.

Ira himself has inspired the popular imagination in books, movies, and even song. There's something admirable in a morbid way about his refusal to accept the myths people tried to build.