The History and Controversy Behind The Flag On Iwo Jima

When the picture of the American flag being raised on top of Mt. Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima it was one of the single greatest moral boosters to the American people. The strange thing about this is the battle on Iwo Jima had not yet been won when the picture was taken. Also the battle itself was not the biggest and also did not have the most cost of life compared to other battles in the Pacific. So, why did this picture become such an important part of the American victory in the Pacific?

The famous flag raised above Iwo Jima was actually not the first flag raised. The first flag that was raised was much smaller than the second flag that was raised and it was for this reason that the second flag was put there. The flag could be seen all over the island and gave a huge morale increase to the U.S. soldiers and dealt a huge blow to the morale of the Japanese soldiers. The picture of the flag being raised was taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This photo had been taken while six U.S. Marines were raising the flag but three of the men in the picture never left Iwo Jima. Of the soldiers that raised the flag only one of the men was successful in putting his live back together after the war. The men that made it back could not understand why they were so successful. The image of the soldiers raising the flag was such an important image because it not only gave a boost in morale to the soldiers but also the citizens back on the home front. The image was the largest part of the seventh bond tour in the U.S. The seventh bond tour raised more money than any other bond tour during WWII. But the controversy behind the flag was that one of the men, Harlon Block, was misidentified as Henry o. Hansen. This stirred up controversy with the Block family and one of the flag raisers Ira Hayes. The Block family refused to accept that it was not their son in the picture because they said that they would recognize their son anywhere. Ira Hayes brought up the misidentification to his public relations officer who tolled Hayes to keep quiet or it would jeopardize the bond tour. A different kind of controversy also surrounded the picture. When Rosenthal was asked if the picture was staged he responded “yes” but Rosenthal thought that they were referring to a second picture that was taken of all the men on top of the mountain in front of the flag. For the rest of his career Rosenthal was constantly accused of staging the picture and trying to cover up the first flag raising. The lie that was told to the American people about the mistaken identity was necessary because if the people had known that the government was lying to them when the bond tour was going on the tour would not have made nearly the money it did. If the money was not made it would have been a devastating blow the U.S. war effort. It was wrong that Block was not properly viewed as the sixth soldier until some time after the bond drive but it was necessary not to mess with the story the government had already given the American people. All that the government did to protect their bond drive was justified because the money that the gained from the drive helped to save countless U.S. lives because of the supplies it was able to buy.

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