Shadow of Suribachi

Shadow of Suribachi: Raising The Flags on Iwo Jima (1995) is a book by Parker Bishop Albee, Jr. and Keller Cushing Freeman which mainly 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.

Overview

Though they cover and debunk the various staging myths that have haunted the famous photograph, much of the book is devoted to the story of Sergeant Hank Hansen, a Marine who was photographed by Lou Lowery right after the first flag and flag pipe raising on Mount Suribachi, in the morning on February 23, 1945, and who was initially identified by Rene Gagnon and John Bradley as participating in the second replacement flag raising that afternoon.

Ira Hayes Questions Misidentification

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 before the 7th War Loan Tour (7th bond tour; Bradly, Hayes, and Gagnon take the flag to US cities to sell bonds to pay for the war) 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) on July 12, 1946, 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 an affidavit 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 by Joe Rosenthal taken only moments after the second flag raising.

Before seeing Hayes' hand-written notes and identifications on the photographs, both Bradley and Gagnon sent notarized statements reaffirming 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, gave in and acquiesced in a letter, the first paragraph of which was copied word-for-word from Bradley's.

Conclusion

On January 15, 1947, the investigating committee found that the figure at the base of the flagpole in the photograph had been "incorrectly identified since April 8, 1945, as being Sergeant Henry O. Hansen." Furthermore, they stated that "to the best of the ability of the Board to determine at this time, the above-mentioned figure is that of Corporal Harlan [sic] H. Block."

Albee and Freeman conclude that it is ultimately impossible to tell, based only on the photographic evidence, who is at the base of the flagpole.

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
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