Last man in iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising photo dies

CNN ^ | Mon February 4, 2008

[cateizgr8]

REDDING, California -- Raymond Jacobs, believed to be the last surviving member of the group of Marines photographed during the original U.S. flag-raising on Iwo Jima during World War II, has died at age 82.

The iconic image of U.S. Marines raising the flag on Mount Suribachi in February 1945.

Jacobs died January 29 of natural causes at a Redding hospital, his daughter, Nancy Jacobs, told The Assoc Press.

Jacobs had spent his later years working to prove that he was the radio operator photographed looking up at an American flag as it was being raised by other Marines on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945.

Newspaper accounts from the time show he was on the mountain during the initial raising of a smaller American flag, though he had returned to his unit by the time the more famous AP photograph was taken of a second flag-raising later the same day.

The radioman's face isn't fully visible in the first photograph taken of the first flag-raising by Lou Lowery, a photographer for Leatherneck magazine, leading some veterans to question Jacobs' claim. However, other negatives from the same roll of film show the radioman is Jacobs, said retired Col. Walt Ford, editor of Leatherneck.

"It's clearly a front-on face shot of Ray Jacobs," Ford said.

Annette Amerman, a historian with the Marine Corps History Division, said in an e-mailed statement "there are many that believe" Jacobs was the radioman. "However, there are no official records produced at the time that can prove or refute Mr. Jacobs' location."

Jacobs was honorably discharged in 1946. He was called up during the Korean conflict in 1951 before retiring as a sergeant, his daughter said.

Jacobs retired in 1992 from KTVU-TV in Oakland, where he worked 34 years as a reporter, anchor and news director.

[JSteff]

That is really sad. For years they gave credit to the ones who did a PR shot and not the original group.

Then he has to fight for recognition for his service.

Well HE know’s where the credit goes, cause he saw it all.

Semper Fi.

[holymoly]

For years they gave credit to the ones who did a PR shot and not the original group.

The second flag raising was not a "PR shot".

The first flag was too small to be seen from a distance, so a larger flag was taken from an LST, and used in the second flag raising.

The second flag raising was neither staged, nor a "PR shot".