Flag Raised Over Iwo Jima 70 Years Ago-- Part 2: A Chicago Connection

From the Feb. 23, 2015, WGN TV News.The famous photo of the flag raising was actually not the first flag raised atop Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima..  It was the second one raised after four days of hard fighting against a determined Japanese garrison.

Japan was fully aware of the consequence of what would happen should the island and its four airfields fall into American hands.  It would be used as a forward base for bombing attacks on the Japanese home islands.  It simply could not fall.

Sadly, the first flag to be raised is largely forgotten because of the much more famous Joe Rosenthal photograph.  Those Marines who raised it were largely forgotten as well.  That flag was determined to be too small, so a new, larger flag was raised.  Those men did it while Mount Suribachi was still in Japanese hands.

One of the men in the first raising, also photographed after it was up, had his rifle at ready to protect his comrades.

That man with the rifle was Private James Michel, from Chicago.

--More to Come.  --GreGen