Patriotic Fervor and the Truth About Iwo Jima

HNN ^ | 1993 | Marling/Wetenhall

[gunnyg]

The POINT is that which should have been foremost in your mind, and many before you, and that is TRUTH!

Semper Fidelis
Dick

[JOE43270]

I've known about those Flag raisings on Iwo Jima for a long time. Yes, the names of those Marines and the Navy Corpsmen are very important. If it wasn't for them and all the rest of our people that fought in the Pacific and in Europe we would not have the America we have. God Bless All of them and the ones that came after that have Defended America. All Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Coasties, and even the Merchant Marines thta were in WW2.

[ChadGore]

TITLE: Patriotic Fervor and the Truth About Iwo Jima By Karal Ann Marling and John Wetenhall

In these words, the writer juxtaposes Patriotism and The Truth as if they are mutually exclusive. WRONG.

Here's more yadda blah yadda wubba blah blah:

. . a vortex of misremembering, as hearsay and emotion quickly subsumed the truth . .

Then there's this apathetic remembrance :

On February 23rd, 1945, the fifth day of the bloody battle of Iwo Jima, Marines were ordered to take Mount Suribachi, the besieged Japanese stronghold. A 40-man patrol ascended the volcanic slope, attained the summit, and hoisted "Old Glory" on a makeshift flagpole. That was at 10:35 a.m., precisely. Horns blew. Bells tolled. Cheers rang out from American positions below. "Mopping up" skirmishes followed, but, within an hour, the men of Easy Company had declared Suirbachi secure.

You can almost hear the writer rolling his eyes.

Amazing that a liberal historian would devote just one paragraph to the actual events of the battle and make the rest about "me me me".

[SquirrelKing]

This falls under that sissy-britches argument after 9-11 for people to stop driving around with flags on their cars.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

The second was somewhat staged, but not in any sinister, cynical way. The brass decided they wanted a better picture, evidently.

Staged isn't a good word to use - and what the "brass" wanted was a bigger flag. Some guys put it up. Rosenthal happened to be there and the shot took him by surprise - he almost didn't get it. In fact, he didn't know what he got (no digital cameras in 1945); later, when discussing his photo, someone asked him if it was posed and he said "Yeah," - because he thought the guy was talking about a completely different photograph Rosenthal had taken. He hadn't yet seen his own famous photo at that point.

The second flag raising was perfectly spontaneous.

The problem with it is that the photo was so good, it overshadowed the guys who fought their way up the mountain and raised the original one. FDR tried to bring the guys in the Rosenthal photo home (and did bring three survivors). He sent them on a bond tour and put them up at the Waldorf.

When the Iwo Jima Memorial was unveiled, the Rosenthal flag-raisers were seated as guests of honor. The original flag-raisers were placed in the back.

Ira Hayes didn't like any of it. I guess that's why the guy who wrote this called him "hapless" and pointed out his problem with alcohol?

To me, Ira Hayes is a hero - if for no other reason than the fact that he was sensitive to the injustice of it all. His buddies were dying, and he was sleeping at the Waldorf - and he couldn't stand it. If that's hapless, then I hope to be that hapless someday.

One more note: Greeley Wells' daughter is a friend of mine. He is a good man. Yes, he should have read the book before commenting, but for sixty years he's had to offer rebuttal to the myths about all this, so I imagine he felt he was taking an educated guess. But he's a good and humble man, and I just want to make that point.

Thank you for the ping, Chad. (And thank you for your service, Dad.)

[Colinsky]

This falls under that sissy-britches argument after 9-11 for people to stop driving around with flags on their cars.

To me it's more like the hooraw about the proposed statue of the three firemen after the famous photo of them after 9/11, and how the project faded in a politically correct flurry of the necessity of ethnic diversity, no matter if none of the actual firemen were black.

[Seaplaner]

The brass decided they wanted a better picture, evidently.

If I recall, they also wanted a larger flag.

This is quite justly an icon of our national pride.

I suspect that the conclusions of Professor Marling and Mr, Wetenhall were reached long before they performed their “research”.

I also suspect that they never served in the United States Marine Corps, and will never come close to knowing what honor and sacrifice really are.

Pity.

.

[gunnyg]

The Marling/Wetenhall book is obviously the only factual and most accurate choice among only several books specifically dealing with the topic of the actual Iwo Jima flag-raising, and the "replacement" flag. For those with the eyes and ears for it, and who have investigated accordingly, they have found the authors findings supported with extensive documentation cited, much of it official Marine Corps records.

FR, in general, is much like many other Internet messageboards, e.g., most of the viewers who understand what is presented have no need to respond, and so have the hundreds, so far, of FR viewers to this thread not responded.

Here, as w/other boards, I have mainly the responses from those who "hang out" here as a daily routine--they are not the typical viewers, but are rather more of the class of malcontents who live to pounce upon someone who is in their limited perception an outsider. But there are notable exceptions to this here as everywhere, and to those I both congratulate and thank you for your responses; and to the other few extreme exceptions--the back o' me hand to ya. All know to whom I am referring.

Semper Fidelis
Dick

[mad_as_he$$]

Just finished watching the History Channels, Time Machine show called "Flag Raisers". It goes into great detail about what happened around the flags on Iwo. If you can lay your hands on it I highly recommend it. The listings do not seem to show it being replayed soon.

[mad_as_he$$]

Thank you to your father and your family for the service.

Iwo Jima was a kind of hell that no man needs or deserves, it is out of that kind of hell that heroes arise. Every man who set foot on Iwo in February 1945 is a hero to me and my kids, they always will be.

I grew up in the DC area. Arlington was a spot that we visited often. The Marine War Memorial is one of four spots I have visited as an adult and sat and cried like a baby. The other are: Pearl Harbor, The Wall and Normandy. As long as I live and have breath I will tell anyone who will listen of the sacrifice, valor and honor of the American Soldier. Some get tired of it but I don't care. I spent a day telling my younger daughters Western Traditions Class about Viet Nam. Many didn't even know anything about it - broke my heart.

Semper Fi

De Opresso Liber.

[IronJack]

What the he!! is your problem? You post a thread here, which is an invitation for comments, then you piss and moan about the comments people make. Nobody here has shown you, the Marines, or this thread any disrepect, yet you insist on jap-slapping them like they're the enemy.

When was the last time you had your prescription updated?

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Thank you. Are you a Vietnam vet?

[bert]

I personally don't believe anything written by a person named Karal

[mad_as_he$$]

Civilian contractor that wound up in the sh$t.

[WindOracle]

Man.. talk about naive. I wonder if the author is aware that the famous photo of MacArthur landing in the Philippines is a staged photo? It IS a symbol, and as one poster said in this thread, it diminishes the accomplishments none. Further, such images serve the war effort, and as such deserve some place in history themselves.