Hansen: Spurred by Omahan's research, Marine Corps changes history behind iconic Iwo Jima photo

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Matthew Hansen

Eric Krelle sat at the downtown coffee shop where it all began. He looked a little dazed. He looked like he might cry.

“I knew that we were right,” he said this week. “But I never thought it would come to this conclusion. I still don’t believe it.”

A couple of years ago, Eric was just a normal dude in Omaha, a steady 40-year-old with a steady job, a husband and father of three. But he was also a man with a bit of an obsession. He stoked this obsession through late-night research, fueled it by spending hours upon hours intently staring at blown-up images of seven-decade-old photos and grainy film footage. He did this until he unlocked a hidden history that seemingly had eluded the U.S. government, the Marine Corps and historians since 1945.

Snip: This morning, the Marine Corps officially acknowledged they have since 1945 misidentified the men in the most iconic photo in U.S. history, that photo of six Marines raising a flag over Iwo Jima.

FULL story and related stories at link.

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Read more: http://www.omaha.com/columnists/hansen-spurred-by-omahan-s-research-marine-corps-changes-history/article_0b7a4264-3949-11e6-9702-3b11d206d4ae.html

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[tonyt53]

1. My dad was on the side of Suribachi and said he had no idea a flag had been raised.

He saw it on the stretcher on the way back down. He spent the rest of the war recovering in Australia. That event and when he was in the first US Marine landing on Guadalcanal were the only things he ever spoke about, and neither got more than a few words from him. He passed away in 1981 and I think he really wanted to take those memories away with him.

[still_one]

5. It was an awful battle. Your Dad is special. Anyone who was part of that was a hero

[scottie10]

2. interesting post

I found your post interesting. Several years ago I lived near a man who said he was there when the flag was raised and the men credited in the photo were not actually the ones there.

[still_one]

3. There were actually two flag raisings. It was the second photo that was used

with different people. While it is more than understandable his disappointment, the monument was to honor all those who fought in that terrible battle, and I would extend it to Okinawa which followed after

The photographer of the first picture was killed in the battle of Iwo Jima

Lots of casualties occurred there

[DinahMoeHum]

4. Photo of first flag raising. . .

1st flag lowered down as 2nd flag goes up:

[One_Life_To_Give]

8. Seems awfully peacefull for the first flag raising

Thought it supposedly triggered a spontaneous counterattack.

[underpants]

6. Fascinating. Thanks.

[MADem]

7. The background story!

http://dataomaha.com/media/news/2014/iwo-jima/


What an unimaginable battle--even the sanitized War Department propaganda is horrific:

[Hoppy]

9. My father served on one of the boats that ferried marines from the ships to the shore of Iwo Jima.

He never spoke about it but my mother said he was in tears when he left the ceremony opening the monument of the flag raising.