Flags of Our Fathers

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Flags of Our Fathers

• By James Bradley

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2nd flag famous shot

• This picture is the most reproduced picture in
  history and the book Flags of Our Fathers is
  about this picture and the men who raised it.

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Iwo jima map large scale

• The story of the flag is part of the larger story
  about the Battle for Iwo Jima.
• Iwo Jima is in the outer ring of islands that the
  Japanese consider home.
• Iwo Jima covers 8 square miles and was created by
  the volcano named Suribachi.

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Suribochi

• This is Mount Suribachi, a 556 foot high extinct
  volcano that created the island of Iwo Jima.
• During the battle the Japanese had 1,500
  underground fortifications on the island all
  connected with 16 miles of tunnels.
• During the battle the US Marines fought ON Iwo
  Jima but the Japanese fought IN Iwo Jima

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This map show some of the 1,500 fortifications
the Japanese had on Iwo Jima
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American landing craft
The rest of the island
Crater of the volcano
This is the view of Mount Suribachi from an
airplane
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Brief about battle
Beginning on February 19, 71,245 Marines land on
Iwo Jima, 5,931 were killed and 17,372 were
wounded by the end of the battle on March
25. Japanese General Kuribayashi has 22,000
defenders. The Japanese called their troops
Issen Gorin
"Issen Gorin" translates to "one yen, five rin",
the cost of mailing a draft notice postcard (less
than an American penny). The name Issen Gorin
was the name Japanese Officers and powerful
military personnel used to refer to the average
Japanese soldier. Meaning that the individuals
responsible for the wellbeing of the Japanese
soldiers viewed the soldiers as being worth less
than a penny. In their abusive training and
continued treatment during World War II, the
Japanese soldiers were constantly reminded by
their superiors that they are nothing
but worthless Issen Gorin and, therefore, they
should be entirely prepared to sacrifice
themselves for the emperor
216 Japanese defenders survived, all the rest
died for their Emperor
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Shot of landing
Each of these wakes are made by landing craft
with 30 Marines in them
Mount Suribachi
Landing Beaches
Photo of landings on Iwo Jima
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The following information comes from the book
Flags of Our Fathers. It was written by James
Bradley whos father was one of the flag raisers.
Growing up James knew his father had raised the
flag on Iwo Jima but what he learned about the
event after his father past away did fill a book.
And a very readable one at that.
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Set-up for picture
There were 3 beliefs/myths about the Flag
Raising on Mount Suribachi 1 There was only
one flag raising and Joe Rosenthal took the
famous photograph of it. 2 The flag raising
marked the successful conclusion of this bloody
battle.
3 The Rosenthal photograph was posed, staged or
faked.
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Flag on climb up
Marine Sergeant Lou Lowery, a photographer joined
the 1st Lieutenant Schriers 3rd platoon of Easy
Companies patrol to climb the mountain. Everyone
expected the patrol to be attacked on its climb
up Suribachi. There were still a substantial
number of Japanese soldiers IN the many caves
and tunnels. (150 Japanese soldiers were in the
caves days later) This picture shows the original
54X28 flag being passed forward. The patrol was
not attacked until after it reached the summit.
February 23, 1944 D4
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1st flag prepare to go up

• Another shot by Marine Sergeant Lou Lowery. This
  shows the original flag being prepared to be
  raised.

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1st flag raising

• (Left) This is Marine Sergeant Lou Lowerys photo
  of the original flag raising.
• This picture captured the historic moment when
  the American flag flew over the first piece of
  land EVER captured from the nation of Japan.
• Lowery was the only photographer on the mountain
  at this time. This is the flag that caused so
  much emotion for the American Marines and
  Sailors.
• This was the event that everyone thought was
  captured by the Joe Rosenthal picture (seen
  below).

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1st flag up

• Another Lou Lowery picture. The original flag is
  up, secure and all the Americans on the island
  are yelling and hollering, the hundreds of ships
  around the island are blowing their horns.
• This event was a huge emotional lift to the
  Americans. The men who actually did it are listed
  on the photo. These are not the men who became
  the famous Flag Raisers From Iwo Jima.

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When the flag first appeared on Mount Suribachi
Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal was so
taken by the sight that he turned to Marine
General Holland Howlin Mad Smith and said
That flag means a Marine Corps for the next 500
years. Forrestal also decided that he wanted
the flag as a souvenir. The order to give the
flag to a stranger, even if he was the Navy
Secretary, didnt sit well with Easy Companies
commander Colonel Chandler Johnson who quickly
found another flag to put up so he could keep the
original flag for Easy Company. The second flag
came from LST 779 and was from the salvage yard
in Pearl Harbor and likely survived the Japanese
attack on December 7, 1941 that started this war.
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famous2

• Hours later, AP photographer Joe Rosenthal stood
  on a few rocks, turned to talk with another
  photographer and almost missed this shot of a
  replacement flag bring raised. Joe didnt aim and
  didnt know until several days later that the
  picture even came out.
• When the world saw this picture they assumed it
  was of the original flag raising. They didnt
  know there were two flags put up that day.

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1st down 2nd up

• This picture would have explained what really
  happened that day on Suribachi. In the background
  is the SECOND flag that went up that Joe
  Rosenthal took the famous picture of. In the
  front is the original flag being taken down.
• Everyone involved with the Joe Rosenthal picture
  was very surprised about its importance. They
  knew it was just a replacement of the REAL flag.
• The replacement flag raising was looked on with
  all the importance of replacing a football during
  a gameno one paid any attention to it when it
  happened. James Bradley

This is the replacement flag going up that
became famous
This is the original flag Being lowered.
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2nd flag

• This is a color still shot from Bill Genaust who
  was the only movie photographer on the mountain
  that morning. This larger replacement flag
  actually came from LST 779
• On the extreme lower right is the back of a
  Marine who is helping to take down the original
  or REAL Iwo Jima flag.
• Bill Genaust was killed on Iwo Jima.

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2nd flag staged shot
(Right) After the second flag was raised and the
soon to be famous picture was already taken,
Joe Rosenthal had all the Marines in the area
pose with the replacement flag. This shot with
the whole island of Iwo Jima behind them was the
picture that everyone thought would be famous.
(Left) This is a photo of Joe Rosenthal taking
the posed picture shown above.
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Joe Rosenthal
This is Joe Rosenthal the AP photographer who
captured 1/400th of a second on film, the most
famous photo ever taken. He didnt even look
through the viewfinder on his Kodak camera when
he took the picture. He remembers that moment I
swung my camera around and held it until I could
guess that this was the peak of the action and
shot.
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2nd flag with view of beach
A shot of the replacement flag on Suribachi.
From this height you can clearly see the landing
beaches To the right of the Marine and the rest
of the island behind him. This replacement flag
flew on Suribachi for three weeks before it was
so shredded by the wind that it to had to be
replaced.
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Fam 2
The Picture
When this photo was released to the public on
February 25, 1944 (3 days after it was taken) it
immediately became popular. Every newspaper in
the US ran it on the front page and many
newspapers reprinted it on cardboard so people
could frame it.
The President, FDR, realized how important this
photo was and wanted these Marines to return to
the US as heros and help sell war bonds. By that
time three of the six Marines in this photo were
dead and a fourth badly wounded.
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The following slides give a short history of each
of these men.
Who Were these Flag Raisers?
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Mike Strank
Michael Strank was the son of Czech immigrants
who lived and worked in the coal fields of
Pennsylvania. The rugged sergeant had enlisted in
1939 after Nazi Germany had swallowed his
parents' homeland and fought on Bougainville with
the Marine Raider Battalion (an elite
force). He was a considered an ideal Marine
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Mike Strank was the first flag raiser killed,
just 6 days later. He was leading his platoon
across an open area when some Japanese snipers
started shooting. He and several other Marines
hid behind a rock when a shell exploded next to
them.
The explosion tore his chest open and ripped out
his heart. Harlon Block took over the platoon.
Mike Strank merited a posthumous Bronze Star. He
is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
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Harlon Block
Harlon H. Block joined the Marines after
graduating high school with his entire
championship Weslaco High School football team
(He was an All-State receiver). He volunteered
for parachute duty and served in the same
battalion as Hayes on Bougainville. Harlon took
over the platoon when Mike Strank got killed, 6
days after the flag raising. Harlon only lived a
few more hours. He was also killed by an
explosion.
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Harlon was miss-identified in the photo as Henry
Hanson but Harlons mother was convinced that
was her sons butt in the photo, I dont care
what the papers say, I know my boy. Since both
Harlon and Henry were killed (on the same day) No
one believed her. Many years later she learned
she was correct. Ira Hayes walked across Arizona
and New Mexico into Texas to the Block farm to
tell the family that It was Harlon in the picture
not Henry Hanson.
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Franklin Sousley
Franklin R. Sousley, his father died when he was
9 and Franklin assumed Man of the House
responsibilities on the small Kentucky farm they
lived on. Friends said that he was always happy
but had to spend all free time working on the
farm.
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Franklin was shot and died on March 21, 27 days
after raising the flag. When Franklins mother,
Goldie, learned of his death the neighbors heard
her scream and cry all night and into the next
morning. They lived a quarter mile from Goldies
house
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Rene Gagnon
Rene A. Gagnon, born in New Hampshire from
French-Canadian parents. Worked in a mill with
his mother and girl friend. Wanted to be a marine
because he thought he could pick up more girls
wearing a Marine uniform. He was not considered
good enough to be a combat Marine and was a
runner. He delivered radio batteries and the
replacement flag up Suribachi. He only shot his
gun once during the battle.
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Rene believed that this event would make him set
for life. It didnt. He had great trouble finding
work after the war.He was the only surviving flag
raiser who liked the attention the event brought
him. The end of his life was unhappy. A
newspaper printed an unflattering Memorial Day
interview in 1978 that got him fired from his job
as a motel desk clerk. A year later he died of a
heart attack while working as a maintenance man
for an apartment complex. He is buried in
Arlington National Cemetery
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John Bradley
John H. Bradley, "a solid guy with a sense of
humor," had completed his apprenticeship to a
Wisconsin funeral director when he enlisted in
the Navy to become a corpsman. wounded The Corps
conferred a Navy Cross on Bradley for aiding
Marines under fire. He was, in fact, treating
Sergeant Henry O. Hansen, a member of the
original patrol, when a sniper's bullet killed
the sergeant.
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Bradley returned to his hometown and his former
business, setting up his own funeral home. He
died in 1994, the last of the flag-raisers.
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Ira Hayes
Ira A. Hayes , a Pima Indian from a reservation
in Arizona and a former Marine paratrooper with
combat experience at Bougainville. PFC Hayes
received a letter of Commendation.
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Hayes fared worst in postwar life. The quiet
young man had grown up in a close-knit tribal
community of two hundred and was troubled by the
unwanted limelight of the bond tour and
subsequent publicity.
He became a problem drinker, unable to hold a
job, and died of alcohol and exposure near his
home in 1955, barely two months after the
unveiling of the Marine Corps War Memorial.
Buried at Arlington National Cemetery
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7th Bond drive
In WW2 the money needed to pay for the war
came from regular people Donating money
The goal of the 7th Bond Drive was
14,000,000,000 (14 billion) Which is
nearly 100 from every Single person in the USA
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Flag Raisers On Tour
The Photograph became the symbol for FDR's "7th
Bond Drive." For the next two months everyone
in America would see this picture over and over.
And the 3 living flag raisers toured America to
help sell more war bonds You couldn't avoid it.
It hung in One million Retail Store
windows. 16,000 Movie Theaters. 15,000
Banks. 200,000 Factories. 30,000 Railroad
Stations. 5,000 Large Billboards.
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At the beginning of the tour the war had already
cost the US 88 billion dollars that year. The
government only had 99 billion in the treasury.
The Flag Raisers had to convince millions of
Americans to spend billions of their own money to
pay for the war.
John Bradley would speak these words into
hundreds of microphones around the US Men of
the fighting fronts cannot understand the need
for Rallies to sell bonds for purchase of
seriously needed supplies. The bond buyer is
asked only to lend his money at a profit. The
fighting man is asked to give his life.
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The Mighty 7th Bond Tour broke all records and
collected 26.3 billion dollars in 8 weeks, almost
twice the goal of 14 billion.
The Flag Raisers became heros but not for
raising a replacement flag, they raised a record
amount of money to pay For the war.
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In July of 1949 Republic Studio made a movie
about Iwo Jima And told the flag raisers they
needed them to help with the film. This was a
lie, they wanted them to appear in the picture
for free Advertising.
The scene from Sands of Iwo Jima with the 3
Flag Raisers. The actor John Wayne (Center)
hands Rene the flag to be raised as Ira and John
look on.
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US Marine Corp Memorial Washington DC
This memorial is very close to Arlington National
Cemetery where several of the Flag raisers are
buried.
This memorial, based on The Photograph is 110
feet tall. Each of the 6 figures is about 32 feet
high It was presented on November 10, 1954 This
was the last time the 3 living flag raisers
would be together
John Bradley, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon
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Name______________________________________________
______Class ____Questions Print this page out
and answer the following questions then hand it
in for extra credit.

• How long (in days) did the battle for Iwo Jima
  last?
• What percentage of Marines became casualties
  (killed and wounded) during the battle?
• What percentage of Japanese became casualties
  (killed and wounded) during the battle and how
  did the term Issen Gorin explain the high
  percentage of Japanese casualties?
• List the 3 belief/myths about The Picture of
  the flag raising and explain how they were shown
  to be incorrect in the book Flags of Our Fathers.
• 1
• 2
• 3
• The 3 flag raisers that survived the battle
  always said that they were not heros because of
  The Picture.
• In what way could you consider them heros?