Marines Correct Iwo Jima Flag-Raising Participants-- Part 3: Get Their Names!

The Battle of Iwo Jima began February 19, 1945, and lasted 36 days with about 70,000 Marines fighting 18,000 Japanese soldiers.  More than 6,500 U.S. service men died and about 20,000 were wounded in the battle on the small island which is 660 miles south of Tokyo and is now officially called Iwo To.  Most all of the Japanese soldiers died.

Joe Rosenthal shot the photo on February 23, 1945,  Unfortunately, he didn't get the men's names, but after the photo was released and became famous, President Roosevelt told the military to identify the flag raisers.

The Marines identified the men as Harlon Block, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Franklin Soulsey and Michael Strank.  All were Marines except for Bradley, who was a Navy corpsman.

--GreGen