The United States Marine Corps is investigating a possible misidentification of one of the most iconic images captured during World War II, when six soldiers raised the American flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
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However, two history buffs – Eric Krelle, of Omaha, Nebraska, and Stephen Foley, of Wexford, Ireland – took a closer look at the picture and think one of the men was misidentified. A comparison of the photo with other images taken that day led the historians to speculate that the man identified as Bradley was actually Harold Henry Schultz, a private first class who died in 1995.
Rosenthal did not get the names of the servicemen at first, but set about identifying the men after the photo gained popularity, the events of which were dramatized in the film Flags of Our Fathers, which was based on a nonfiction book written by Bradley’s son James.
The picture in question shows six USA service members raising the American flag on a mountain on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima.
Block, Strank and Sousley were killed in battle at Iwo Jima.
There’s a chance that the man long-named as John Bradley, a Navy corpsman (combat medic), didn’t participate in the flag raising at all.
Iwo Jima would prove an important piece of land to the USA war effort because Japanese fighter planes used its single airstrip as a launch point to attack US bomber planes.
Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped the photo.
In its 2014 story, the Omaha World-Herald said that during an extended recovery from hernia surgery, Stephen Foley began reading books about the Battle of Iwo Jima. The man identified as Sousley? The second flag, taken off a nearby landing ship, was raised by five Marines and one Navy corpsman.
The island of Iwo Jima is 660 miles south of Tokyo and was coveted by USA forces because Japanese fighter planes intercepting American bombers used it as a take-off point. By winning the battle, the US prevented Japan from using the island as a launching point for Japan’s fighter planes, a turning point in the Pacific Theater. “People were just exhausted of the war, and all of a sudden out of nowhere came this picture that encapsulated everything”, Buell said.
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The historians also point out issues with Bradley’s trousers and the presence of a hat underneath his helmet in the photo.
The Marines issued a statement about its investigation, which doesn’t have a timeline.
– Bradley wore uncuffed trousers in the famous photo but other pictures shot that day shows in him tightly cuffed trousers.
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“This is unbelievable”, said Bradley, who interviewed the surviving Marines and Rosenthal before writing his book.
