Posted on 05/02/2016 4:18:14 PM PDT by jazusamo
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Marine Corps says it has begun investigating whether it mistakenly identified one of the men shown raising the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima in one of the iconic images of World War II after two amateur history buffs began raising questions about the picture.
The Marines announced its inquiry more than a year after Eric Krelle, of Omaha, Nebraska, and Stephen Foley, of Wexford, Ireland, began raising doubts about the identity of one man. In November 2014, the Omaha World-Herald published an extensive story about their claims and Saturday was the first to report the Marines were looking into the matter.
Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal shot the photo on Feb. 23, 1945, on Mount Suribachi, amid an intense battle with the Japanese. Rosenthal didn’t get the names of the men, but the photo immediately was celebrated in the U.S. and President Franklin Roosevelt told the military to identify the men.
After some confusion, the Marines identified the men as John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Harlon Block, Michael Strank and Franklin Sousley. All were Marines except Bradley, who was a Navy corpsman.
Block, Strank and Sousley were killed in fighting at Iwo Jima before the photo was distributed in the U.S.
On Monday, the Marines issued a statement saying, “The Marine Corps is examining information provided by a private organization related (to) Joe Rosenthal’s Associated Press photograph of the second flag raising on Iwo Jima.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
One things for damn certain, it wasn’t Barrack Obama or any of his relatives.
not sure i believe this. wouldn’t the real guy be laying his claim to fame whilst the unreal guy be beset by guilt?
conveniently, they are all dead now...
I’m expecting the misidentification to put a gay GI in the picture.
Or LBJ. Didn’t he earn a Silver Star or some other type of medal during that war for an absolutely bullsh$t reason?
I agree.
Now you know that Islam made a major contribution to the victory on Iwo as it did at every historic American event! /sarc
It might well have been Peter Jennings or Hillary Clinton, given the way things go these days.
Hahahahaha beat me to it, darn it!
I think I remember him saying that his grandfather liberated Auschwitz, which would have meant that he was in the Soviet Army. Which kind of explains a lot, but you're right, Obama's people were on the other side of the planet at the time.
Yep. lol
They were all brave Americans who believed in their Country.
“Flags of Our Fathers” was a great book. Hard to believe John Bradley would have lied to his son about his participation in the flag raising...
Bump!
Agreed.
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t the photo of the *second* flag raising?
I remember reading that the first flag was a small one and the marines didn’t have a photographer with them. The officer in charge of the fleet wanted a bigger one that the entire fleet could see so a bigger flag, and a photographer were sent up.
The marines who raised the first flag were the first to reach the top of Mt suribachi and weren’t sure if there were any Japanese waiting for them.
The second time the flag was raised everyone knew the top was secured.
At least that’s what I read in several accounts.
Are they going to try to claim one of the guys in the picture was Black?
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