Marine Corps War Memorial

(By: Chip Schultz)

Location:   Marshall Drive, between Route 50 and Arlington National Cemetery
Visiting Hours:   Open Daily, 24 hours
Cost:   Free

Outside the walls of the National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, stands a bronze statue many refer to as the Marine Corps Memorial. The statue is of a group of men, 32 feet tall, raising a 60 foot long flagpole. The granite base of the memorial bears two inscriptions:

"In honor and memory of the men of the United States Marine Corps who have given their lives to their country since 10 November 1775."

* * *

"Uncommon Valor Was a Common Virtue."
~ Admiral Chester Nimitz

Sadly enough, the extent of knowledge that most people have of this haunting statue is just that, that it is a very large statue of a group of Marines raising a flag, probably depicting the World War II era. What they don't know is how many men are depicted in the statue - and what branch of the military they are all in. They don't know what the statue represents - or why it was created. If they knew the statue is called Iwo Jima, they probably don't know what, or where, Iwo Jima is. And of the men themselves,
most people don't know whether they lived or died. Most people don't even know their names.

On February 23, 1945, Joe Rosenthal (AP photographer) took a not-so-simple photograph. While standing on piled stones and a sandbag, Rosenthal, who was only 5 feet and 5 inches tall, set his camera for a lens setting between f/8 and f/11. Then, in 1/400th of a second, he captured the most reproduced photograph in the history of photography. Just five days into the longest and most intense battle in the Pacific theater, on a small 8-square mile, pork chop shaped island named Iwo Jima, the American flag was raised for over Japanese soil for the first time in the history of the Japanese empire.

In his Pulitzer Prize winning photo, Rosenthal captured five Marines and one Navy Corpsman in the most iconic image of World War II. His image, used in a 1945 War Bond drive which raised $26.3 billion, was again used by Felix de Weldon to sculpt the Marine Corps War Memorial, also known simply as Iwo Jima. When observing this statue, or Rosenthal's photo, people usually think of the Marines; but when I look at it, I think of that solitary, forgotten Sailor, the Navy Corpsman - that most people never knew about.

The symbolism in the Iwo Jima is perhaps more haunting than the memorial itself. Of the six men holding the flagpole, three of them were killed in the battle (one by friendly fire); the three survivors became instant celebrities upon the publication of the photo. It was the most famous photograph ever taken; the most reproduced of all-time... and yet most of us can't name anyone in it; but we study the lifestyles of the Hollywood elite in our sleep. Our children can recite seasonal stats of overpaid athletes for the last 20 years; but they don't have a clue who raised that flag.

There are four men in the foreground and two in the back...


The far right, at the base of the flagpole, is Harlon Block. For a while this was thought to be Hank Hansen, but Harlon's mother knew better. As a proud Texan, Harlon is the one showing his rear-end to the camera. He enlisted in the Marines with his entire high school football team. Harlon was blown into the air with dust and debris all around him; he was sliced from his groin to his neck. He gave a strangulated scream, "They killed me!", then rolled to the ground and died face down.

Next to Harlon, the central figure of the photograph, is Navy Corpsman John "Doc" Bradley. Of the six of these men, Doc was the only one to live a full life. Although he was awarded the Navy Cross (2nd only to the Medal of Honor) for his valor on Iwo Jima, his wife and children did not learn of his actions until after his death. In the civilian world, Doc ran a funeral home. The Iwo Jima photo never hung in his office or anywhere in the Bradley home. The last survivor of the photo, Doc Bradley died of a stroke on January 11, 1994. He was 70 years old.

Left of Doc is the youngest member of the group, Franklin Sousley. From Hilltop, Kentucky, Franklin grew up in a very poor family. He never owned a pair of shoes until he went to school. Fatherless at the age of nine, Franklin became the man of the house. He attended a two-room school house. If you look closely at his right wrist, at just 19 years old, the most boyish of the flagraisers was getting help from the the most mature - the veteran, Sgt. Mike Strank. However, when he lost focus for a moment and wandered into a road, Franklin was hit by a Japanese sniper. When asked how he was doing, Franklin answered back, "Not bad. I don't feel anything." And then he died.


On the far left is Ira Hays. Ironically, his hands were the only ones not grasping the flagpole - as Ira never could grasp hold of his own life. An American Indian, from the Pima tribe in Arizona, Ira was a remarkable fighter. Hailed a hero, he didn't see it that way. A week before Christmas 1954, he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly - for the fifty-first time. Almost 10 years to the day after the photo was taken, Ira Hays was found lying face down in pool of his own vomit and blood. The coroner ruled it an accidental death due to overexposure in the freezing weather and too much alcohol.

In the back on the right, behind Doc Bradley, is Rene Gagnon. A pretty-boy, Rene believed those who hailed him a hero. He thought he would benefit from his celebrity. A janitor at age 54, he died of a heart attack.  Because of his short length of service and lack of medals, the government ruled that he was not eligible for burial at Arlington. It took his widow nearly two years, but Rene was finally laid to rest just across the street from the Iwo Jima Memorial.

And in the back on the left, clinging to Franklin's wrist, is the oldest of the flagraisers, Mike Strank. Born Mychal Strenk in Czechoslovakia, Mike became a larger than life hero on Iwo Jima. While kneeling with his fellow Marines, getting ready to draw a plan in the sand, Mike was killed by friendly fire. The shell that got him came from a U.S. destroyer. The impact tore a hole in his chest and ripped out his heart. He was just 24 years old.

Only two of them walked off the island. One was carried off with shrapnel embedded up and down his side. Three were buried there. And so they are also a representative picture of Iwo Jima. If you had taken a photo of any six boys that day, it would be the same: two-thirds casualties. Two out of every three of the boys who fought on Iwo Jima were killed or wounded.

Joe Rosenthal's photograph became my passion more than ten years ago. I have studied it. I have taught about it's symbolism. And as a public speaker, I have re-enacted it in front of hundreds of school children. Indeed, there is much to be learned from the uncommon valor displayed on that tiny island more than 65 years ago. Those who raised the American flag on Iwo Jima are no longer with us; and those who observed it are dying at a staggering rate. So the onus is upon us - to teach our children that Uncommon Valor Was a Common Virtue.