Shadow of Suribachi: Raising The Flags on Iwo Jima
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Shadow of Suribachi: Raising The Flags on Iwo Jima (1995) is a book by Parker Bishop Albee, Jr. and Keller Cushing Freeman which examines the controversy over the identification of the Marine at the base of the flagpole in Joe Rosenthal's Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima photograph.
Much of the book is devoted to the life story of Sergeant Hank Hansen, a Marine who was photographed in the first flagraising, and who was initially identified by Rene Gagnon and John Bradley as participating in the replacement flagraising.
Recounted is the story of how Ira Hayes knew that it was actually Corporal Harlon Block in the photograph, and tried to bring the misidentification to the attention of the Marine Corps, but was told that since both Hansen and Block were dead, he should let it go. Their story differs from that of most Hayes biographers as they transcribe a letter which Hayes wrote to Belle Block (Harlon's mother) confirming it was Harlon in the photograph (after she first wrote to him). They do not mention the "hitchhiking to Texas to tell them the truth" story.
After Belle Block sent Hayes' letter to her congressman, he called on the Marine Corps to investigate the matter. Hayes gave a sworn deposition to Marine Corps investigators in December 1946, stating on the record that it was actually Block in the photograph, not Hansen, and pointed out several significant uniform discrepancies between the figure in the famous photograph and that of Hansen in photographs taken earlier that day and in the "Gung Ho" photograph taken only moments after the second flagraising.
Before seeing Hayes' hand-written notes and identifications on the photographs, both Bradley and Gagnon reaffirmed their earlier identification of Hansen. After being shown Hayes' material, Bradley wrote a letter to the investigators which he ended by saying, "It could be Block." Hayes' material and Bradley's letter were then sent to Gagnon, who, according to this book, acquiesced in a letter which was copied word-for-word from Bradley's.
Albee and Freeman stop short of calling Hayes a liar, but it is clear that they do not quite believe him, and only go so far as to say it is ultimately impossible to tell, based only on the photographic evidence, who is at the base of the flagpole.
[edit] References
Shadow of Suribachi: Raising The Flags on Iwo Jima. Parker Bishop Albee, Jr. and Keller Cushing Freeman. 1995. Praeger Publishers. ISBN: 0-275-95063-8
