Among the men raising the United States flag on Iwo Jima, as captured in the iconic World War II photo, there is one who historians assert is incorrectly identified. About a year and a half after the question was raised, the U.S. Marines is rethinking the answer it initially gave, according to the Associated Press.
Taken four days after the Battle of Iwo Jima, which began on Feb. 19, 1945, the photo depicts six men raising the U.S. flag atop the bowl-shaped Mount Suribachi. The mountain, which had bunkers bored into it, offered the high ground and the best vantage of the island.
The men were replacing a smaller U.S. flag when AP photographer Joe Rosenthal took the picture. But being just days into a battle that would carry on for weeks more, the men hurried onto other duties after raising the flag leaving Rosenthal scrambling to get their names.
Once developed, the photo became popular back in the U.S., and so President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the military to identify the soldiers. The men were believed to be John Bradley, Harlon Block, Michael Strank, Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley and Rene Gagnon.
It was the Navy corpsman, the Navy's term for a medic, who got the attention of historians Eric Krelle and Stephen Foley. The man identified as Bradley wasn't dressed and kitted as a corpsman. He wasn't even dressed as Bradley had been attired that day, going by other pictures.
On other photos from that day, Bradley was pictured wearing a pistol belt with no ammo pouches. The man identified as Bradley in the flag photo is wearing a cartridge belt that has ammo pouches and a pair of wire cutters, a tool the historians asserted a medic typically wouldn't need.
On top of all that, the historians point out that the man in the photo had cuffs on his pants. In the other photos, Bradley's pants aren't cuffed.
The Marines are hoping to get to the bottom of all of this and has released the following statement:
"The Marine Corps is examining information provided by a private organization related (to) Joe Rosenthal's Associated Press photograph of the second flag raising on Iwo Jima.
Rosenthal's photo captured a single moment in the 36-day battle during which more than 6,500 U.S. servicemen made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation and it is representative of the more than 70,000 U.S. Marines, Sailors, Soldiers and Coast Guardsmen that took part in the battle. We are humbled by the service and sacrifice of all who fought on Iwo Jima."
