Chances are, you’ve seen the iconic image of five U.S. Marines and a Navy sailor raising an American flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during World War II. The original snapshot was taken by Joe Rosenthal, an Associated Press photographer. Today, that image serves as the basis of one of Washington D.C.’s most famous landmarks. The 100-ton bronze sculpture depicts the young soldiers hoisting the Stars and Stripes in the midst of one of the final battles against the Japanese in February 1945.
While visually striking, most people do not know anything about the young men who are memorialized forever in this historic bit of quintessential Americana.
They were part of the 28th Marine Regiment of the 5th Division. At 25, Michael Strank was the oldest and the leader. He was born in Jarabenia, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia). As Sergeant, he gave the order to raise the flag. Harlon Block, 21, was from Texas. He was second in command. Franklin Sousley was only 19. He was raised in Kentucky. Strank, Block, and Sousley never made it home from Iwo Jima. The three died in battle, six days after raising the flag. Block died just hours after assuming command after Strank was killed.
The three remaining Marines pictured survived the war. Rene Gagnon, 20, was from New Hampshire. Jack Bradley, 22, grew up in Wisconsin. Ira Hayes, 22, was a Pima American Indian from the Gila River Reservation in Arizona. Johnny Cash memorialized him in “The Ballad of Ira Hayes,” which recounts his tragic end. In the image, Ira is the soldier furthest left on the end, standing.
I’ve been aware of Ira Hayes for as long as I can remember. You see, while Natives are the first Americans and come from Indigenous civilizations that predate colonial boundaries in this hemisphere, we made up only about 1% of the population of the United States, as of the 2010 census. Indian country is a small place. No, every Native doesn’t necessarily know every other Native, but we know about each other’s tribal communities, and we’re inspired by those of us who achieve greatness.
I also come from a military family. I’m the only member of my family who hasn’t served in the armed forces. American Indians serve in their country’s armed forces in greater numbers per capita than any other ethnic group. Many may be aware of American Indian Code Talkers who are credited with helping win World War II, but Natives have served with distinction in every major conflict for more than 200 years.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, there are about 15,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives on active duty, according to the most recent figures, and over 150,000 American Indian and Alaska Native veterans in 2010. Over 20 American Indians were awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military honor. Ira was given many awards for his service including the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four stars, American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.
Why do so many American Indians join the military when tribes once warred with the United States? Natives have been subject to genocide since Columbus washed ashore in 1492 and the federal government has breached pretty much every treaty it made with sovereign tribes. Settlers stole Native land and resources. It was U.S. policy to exterminate us, and when that failed, assimilate us. They tried to eliminate our cultures and languages, and our religious practices were made illegal.
The answer is complicated. Some American Indian tribes, like mine, are warrior cultures. Once their centuries-old traditions that allowed them to prove their strength and bravery were stripped away, young men may have sought other means of proving their manhood and earning eagle feathers. Military service was one way to accomplish this. Natives who had been removed from their families and placed in government-run boarding schools to assimilate were already accustomed to a military-type life. They grew up wearing uniforms and being subject to drills. Another reason may have been economics. Reservations are often impoverished with few opportunities, which was especially the case in the early 1900s. Seeking higher education was difficult to impossible for those living on the reservation. Joining the armed forces provided young Natives with gainful employment, job training, and the ability to travel. Also, even though cultural beliefs were discouraged, they survived and the cultural belief that pervades throughout tribal nations is the need to protect our homelands. Some American Indians join as a way to protect their people and ancestral lands.
Ira Hamilton Hayes was born on January 12, 1923. He came from a cotton farm on land that his tribal nation had occupied for thousands of years. He was Akimel O’odham, also known as the Pima. After high school, he worked as a carpenter. He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1942. Following boot camp, he was assigned to the Parachute Training School in San Diego. He became a qualified parachutist one month later, then eventually sailed from Hawaii to Iwo Jima. He landed there on D-day in February 1945, soon after which Rosenthal snapped his famous photograph. Ira stayed in Iwo Jima to fight until the end of March.
By May 1945, the photo had propelled Ira into the spotlight. The three surviving men pictured went on a bond selling tour, traveling the country selling billions of dollars worth of war bonds, thanks to the semi-religious institutional icon that was the Iwo Jima flag raising image. In June, Ira was promoted to corporal. He was lauded by the world, and congratulated by Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower; but fame and accolades didn’t sit well with Ira. It wasn’t why he fought. He struggled with the memory of all the friends he left behind on the battlefield. “How could I feel like a hero when only five men in my platoon of 45 survived, when only 27 men in my company of 250 managed to escape death or injury?” he said.
After the bond tour, he returned to the reservation and worked a series of menial jobs, including picking cotton. Like many veterans, he had difficulty adjusting, with ostensibly no real support system, and no mental health care. Ira, nicknamed “Chief Falling Cloud,” seemed to have suffered from survivor’s guilt and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. He often lamented about his best friends who had died. Ira self medicated and drowned his sorrows with alcohol. Because of his unwanted fame, his demise played out for all the world to see, but few sought to question the circumstances that led to his early passing. Corporal Hayes was found dead from alcohol and exposure on January 24, 1955, just shy of the 10-year anniversary of the photo that changed his life forever. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, in Section 34, Plot 479A.
Related: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Need Your Support
Check this out:
