80 years ago American flag raised on MT Suribachi

Four days after landing on the small island, Marines reached the summit of Mt. Suribachi and at approximately 1030 raised the first flag over Iwo Jima. That flag was 54x28 inches in size and was difficult to see on the rest of the island. A second flag, 96x56 inches, was taken off the USS LST-779 and carried to the summit by Marines of 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment.

At about 1200 the patrol reached the summit and found a pole that had been shot through, and rigged the flag to one end while shoving the other into the ground and supporting it with rocks and debris.

Over the generations, the Marine Corps has corrected the list of the Marines in the video with the last one coming in 2019. Today, the Marines credited with raising the second flag over Iwo Jima are Ira Hayes, Harold Schultz (identified in June 2016), Michael Strank, Franklin Sousley, Harold Keller (identified in 2019), and Harlon Block. Navy Corpsman John Bradley and Marine Rene Gagnon were originally mistakenly identified. Of the six who raised the second flag, only Ira Hayes and Harold Shultz survived the battle.

The flag is visible today at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia near Quantico.

The video was taken by Sergeant Genaust, and the famous still image (not shown) was taken by Joe Rosenthal.