Marines say they misidentified one man in iconic 1945 Iwo Jima photo

[douglas9]

WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps acknowledged Thursday it had misidentified one of the six men in the iconic 1945 World War II photo of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima.

The investigation solved one mystery but raised another. The Marine Corps investigation identified a man who has never been officially linked to the famous photo: Pvt. 1st Class Harold Schultz, who died in 1995 and went through life without publicly talking about his role.

“Why doesn’t he say anything to anyone,” asked Charles Neimeyer, a Marine Corps historian who was on the panel that investigated the identities of the flag raisers. “That’s the mystery.”

“I think he took his secret to the grave,” Neimeyer said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/06/23/flag-raiser-marine-iwo-jima-photo/86254440/

[Android3.14]

1. Does this mean one of the identified men lied?

[Glassunion]

3. No.

There were two flags raised that day, a second, larger flag one replaced the first one that was raised. The iconic photo was the second flag going up. John Bradley who was misidentified raising the second flag, actually did raise a flag, however he raised the first one.

[MousePlayingDaffodil]

4. The (much less well-known) first flag-raising . . .

[Glassunion]

9. My wife's grandfather never talked to the family about the war.

All he really talked about to them was that he served in the Pacific (Navy), and piloted a Higgins Boat putting Marines on shore.

Several years back, I mentioned to him during a visit, that my wife and I had visited the WWII museum in NOLA, and saw a restored Higgins Boat. We chatted for quite a while about it. He sort of opened up a bit, and told me about how terrible it was. He could not imagine the hell the Marines went through on those islands. For almost every trip he made ferrying Marines and supplies to the shore, he had to return with casualties as well. I wont go into detail.

[jmg257]

6. From the way it was depicted in the movie, with the flag-raisers recreating the event,

nationwide, it does seem strange Bradley didn't say anything.

It was also depicted that the guys knew better about another mis-identification (Hansen vs Block), but were told to shut up about it.

[MousePlayingDaffodil]

8. Bradley had been involved in the first flag-raising . . .

. . . and perhaps by the time he came to realize that he had been misidentified as one of the six participants in the "iconic" second flag-raising, things were already "too far along" -- in terms of the Marines sending those who had survived the Iwo Jima battle back to the States on the "war bond tour," etc. -- to pull the plug. As you note, at the time, the Marine Corps apparently wasn't all that interested in accuracy (in terms of where the truth actually lay), and so Bradley may have seen that there was little upside in his trying to push the point.

This may also explain why, after the war and after the "war bond tour" hoopla and such died down, Bradley apparently never talked much, if at all, about his participation in the events on Iwo Jima.

[JonathanRackham]

2. Original Film Negative

The original film negative is on (protected) public display at the National Marine Corps Museum at Quantico Virginia.

http://www.usmcmuseum.com/index.html

[Hoyt]

5. They both deserve praise, but it's sad he did not receive the adulation (assuming he really cared).

Lots of false heroes in this world, and this guy fails to get recognition he deserved. Of course, most WWII military and civilians who participated in the war effort deserve recognition. Don't really feel that way about "modern" wars.

[MousePlayingDaffodil]

7. According to the linked story . . .

. . . Schultz (now deceased) at one point during the 1990s mentioned to his step-daughter that he had been one of the flag-raisers. He apparently never felt the need for any "adulation," or even simple recognition.

Perhaps the real take-away from this is how different people seem to be today when it comes to that sort of thing.

RIP.