The first photograph, not the famous one, was taken by SSgt. Louis R. Lowery. Present in the photo were Col. Charles W. Lindberg, 1st Lt. Harold G. Schrier, Private Gene Marshall and PFc James Michels (holding the gun).
James Michels was the Chicago-connection that I wrote about earlier this week.
--GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
Showing posts with label Michels James. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michels James. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Flag Raised Over Iwo Jima 70 Years Ago-- Part 2
The Marines down below were still able to see that first flag go up and there was much cheering. Then, the fleet chimed in with whistles. Even though the fighting would continue for weeks for the volcanic island, this was a major turning point of the battle.
Before the fighting was over, 6800 Americans and 19,000 Japanese had lost their lives, but the Marines had secured the island and its three airfields. The bombing of Japan itself soon began.
The Rosenthal photo showed six men, five Marines and one Navy corpsman, raising the flag. Of them, three did not make it off Iwo Jima alive.
Clint Eastwood's famed "Flags of Our Fathers" movie barely mentioned the first flag and didn't show any of it.
James Michels' family contacted the National Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia, and found they had no artifacts from the first flag raising and were kind enough to donate Mr. Michels' uniform and medals to it.
James Michels died in 1982 at the age of 67 and is buried at the Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.
A Member of the Greatest Generation. --GreGen
Before the fighting was over, 6800 Americans and 19,000 Japanese had lost their lives, but the Marines had secured the island and its three airfields. The bombing of Japan itself soon began.
The Rosenthal photo showed six men, five Marines and one Navy corpsman, raising the flag. Of them, three did not make it off Iwo Jima alive.
Clint Eastwood's famed "Flags of Our Fathers" movie barely mentioned the first flag and didn't show any of it.
James Michels' family contacted the National Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia, and found they had no artifacts from the first flag raising and were kind enough to donate Mr. Michels' uniform and medals to it.
James Michels died in 1982 at the age of 67 and is buried at the Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.
A Member of the Greatest Generation. --GreGen
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
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
Monday, February 23, 2015
Flag Raised On Iwo Jima 70 Years Ago Today-- Part 1
From Wikipedia.
That famous photograph of the six Americans raising the flag atop Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima was taken 70 years ago today. Joe Rosenthal was there to take the photograph of the five Marines and one Navy corpsman raising it. Sadly, there of them did not live to see the end of the battle which raged for considerably longer.
Putting that flag up did not end the battle.
Iwo Jima was a tiny eight-square mile island in the Pacific. Its importance came from the three Japanese airfields located there. The United States wanted to use them to strike at the Japanese home islands.
The picture was taken four days after the battle started.
It is quite possibly the most reproduced photograph in history and one of the most recognized images of the war and is the only photo ever to win a Pulitzer Prize in the same year it was taken.
However, it was not the first flag raised atop Mount Suribachi.
More On That Tomorrow. --GreGen
That famous photograph of the six Americans raising the flag atop Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima was taken 70 years ago today. Joe Rosenthal was there to take the photograph of the five Marines and one Navy corpsman raising it. Sadly, there of them did not live to see the end of the battle which raged for considerably longer.
Putting that flag up did not end the battle.
Iwo Jima was a tiny eight-square mile island in the Pacific. Its importance came from the three Japanese airfields located there. The United States wanted to use them to strike at the Japanese home islands.
The picture was taken four days after the battle started.
It is quite possibly the most reproduced photograph in history and one of the most recognized images of the war and is the only photo ever to win a Pulitzer Prize in the same year it was taken.
However, it was not the first flag raised atop Mount Suribachi.
More On That Tomorrow. --GreGen
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