Marines correct 2nd ID in iconic Iwo Jima photo
Iowa man helped raise American flag during 1945 battle
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Marine Corps has corrected the identity of a second man in the iconic photograph of U.S. forces raising an American flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
After questions were raised by historians who studied photos and film of the event, the Corps determined that one of the six men who raised the flag was not Pfc. Rene Gagnon, as had been believed, but Cpl. Harold P. Keller, the Marines said in a statement last week, noting that Gagnon did help obtain the flag.
Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal shot the iconic image atop Mount Suribachi during the 1945 battle between American and Japanese forces on Iwo Jima.
“Regardless of who was in the photograph, each and every Marine who set foot on Iwo Jima, or supported the effort from the sea and air around the island is, and always will be, a part of our Corps’ cherished history,” the Marines said in the statement.
In 2016, the Marines corrected the identity of another man in the photo after historians raised questions.
NBC News, which broke the news on the Marines’ decision, reported that Keller died in 1979 in Grinnell, Iowa. The Marines didn’t provide details about Keller, but NBC interviewed his daughter, Kay Maurer, 70, of Brooklyn, Iowa.
Although Maurer said her father kept a framed Rosenthal photo showing 18 Marines on the summit of Mount Suribachi with the flag in the background, he never mentioned his role in the historic event.
“He never spoke about any of this when we were growing up,” she said. “We knew he fought in the war. We knew he was wounded in the shoulder at one point. But he didn’t tell us he helped raise the flag on Mount Suribachi.”
The Battle of Iwo Jima began Feb. 19, 1945, and lasted 36 days, with about 70,000 Marines fighting 18,000 Japanese soldiers. More than 6,500 U.S. servicemen died and about 20,000 were wounded in the battle on the tiny island, which is 660 miles south of Tokyo and is now officially called Iwo To. Most of the Japanese soldiers were killed.
Rosenthal shot the photo Feb. 23, 1945. He didn’t get the men’s names, but after the photo was celebrated in the U.S., President Franklin Roosevelt told the military to identify the flag raisers. The Marines identified the men as Harlon Block, John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley and Michael Strank. All were Marines except for Bradley, who was a Navy corpsman.
After two amateur historians raised questions about the identities, a Marine panel in 2016 found that a flag raiser believed to be Navy Pharmacist’s Mate 2nd Class John Bradley was actually Pfc. Harold Schultz, of Detroit. Bradley had helped in an earlier flag-raising on Mount Suribachi, and his role took on greater significance after his son, James Bradley, wrote a best-selling book about the flag raisers, “Flags of Our Fathers” that was made into a movie.
The latest questions were raised by historians Stephen Foley, Dustin Spence and Brent Westemeyer. Their findings were confirmed by a board that was formed by the Marines and was aided by FBI investigators. Foley was also one of the historians who noted the previous mistaken identity.