On this day in History in 1945, US Marines repel a last ditch 200-300 man Japanese suicide attack on Iwo Jima and the battle for the island is over.
Men like Jacklyn Lucas and those who raised the flag in the most iconic World War II photo shown above should be well known names in America. Unfortunately they are mostly forgotten.
I always think of the Johnny Cash song and the movie, The Outsider, when I see this picture.... And you are right, their names should be better known.
ReplyDeleteThe Marines removed John Bradley's name as a flag raiser as of 2016. A Marine who was wounded on Iwo and made it home and never spoke about it was the actual flag raiser attributed to Bradley. Bradley helped raise the first flag on Sirabachi, but never could identify himself in the photo.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I wonder if Bradley not being a Marine (he was Navy) played a role in the decision?
ReplyDeleteNo. At the time Bradley was identified by one of the other marine as one of the men in the photo. Bradley was wounded on Iwo Jima and was told he was in the photo ordered by the brass to go on the War Bond tour which was highly successful. At least one other flag raiser was also misidentified NY the same marine which was corrected by the Marines in 1946. As a decorated and wounded corpsman, Bradley being a flag raiser was not a problem for the Marine Corps but forensic study in 2016 of the photo itself and other photos and film taking of the event conclusively proved he was not one of the men in the famous photo although he was on top of Sirabachi at the time.
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