Henry Hansen

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Henry O. Hansen
December 14, 1919 - March 1, 1945
Place of birth	Boston, Massachusetts
Place of death	Iwo Jima
Allegiance	USMC
Years of service	1936-1945
Rank	Sergeant
Unit	28th Marines
Battles/wars	Battle of Iwo Jima

Henry Oliver ("Hank") Hansen (December 14, 1919 - March 1, 1945) was a US Marine.

Hansen was born in Boston, Massachusetts, with one sister and three brothers. He graduated from Somerville High School in 1938, and joined the Marines aged 18. He was trained as a Paramarine.

He was one of six Marines who raised the first American flag on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, and was photographed by Lou Lowery.^[1] A different group later replaced the first flag with a second, larger, flag, and a photograph of the second flag raising by Joe Rosenthal became famous. Hansen was killed in action seven days later.

After the battle, there was controversy as to the identity of the six soldiers pictured in the famous photograph of the second flag-raising on Iwo Jima. The Marine Corps initially identified one of the six depicted as Hansen. Some months later, a Congressional investigation revealed that the sixth person was Corporal Harlon Block and not Hansen. Fellow Paramarine Ira Hayes was instrumental in proving Block's involvement in the famous photo. In fact, Hayes had told Marine officials that the sixth flag raiser was Block, but since the Marines had already made announcements that Hansen had been identified, the enlisted men were told not to make waves.^[2]

Hansen is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific near Honolulu on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.^[3] The Henry O. Hansen Memorial Park, in his home town of Somerville, was named in his honor in June 2004.^[4]

[edit] References

1. ^ The First Flag-Raising On Iwo Jima.
2. ^ Bradley, James. Flags of Our Fathers. p.417
3. ^ Photo and grave from findagrave.com.
4. ^ Somerville park named for Iwo Jima flag-raiser, The Boston Globe, June 15, 2004.