Iwo Jima Flag Raising question

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the forum. My wife and I have been working on our family trees and a number of my ancestors served in the US Armed Forces. According to my mom, who passed last year, one of her brothers was part of the flag lifting at Iwo Jima. She had an old article, which I attached a smaller version but the full size one it here, which says "the famous flag raising, March 16, 1945, he was killed by a sniper."

I know that uncle was a US Marine Private, and that he was killed 3/16/45, and is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

I'm creating this thread to specifically ask about the flag lifting.
Wiki has the flag raising on February 23, 1945, that article says the flag raising was on March 16th.

Further, History.com says that March 16th was the day that the Iwo Jima fight was over.

Was the author of that old print article simply wrong? Am I missing a piece of information?

I'm hoping someone can clear this up for me.

Thanks for your time and knowledge!

Paul

 

23 February is the date the flag was raised. He was in the 5th Division, 28th Marines that raised the flag are one of that divisions three infantry regiments.

 

How do you know he was 5th Division, 28th Marines? That's not something we've been able to find. http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov doesn't have that info.

 

I can honestly say I do not understand the purpose of sharing this link. It gives an account for the troop movements and encounters for two weeks, but I don't know how that is supposed to help me. Taking the names from the raising of the first flag from this page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima, and searching on your linked page (just in case I missed it) shows that they're not discussed.

So what am I missing? I'm certain that you posted it to help...

 

well, it does offer a chronology which clearly identifies the date of the flag raising as 23 February 1945 and the date the island was declared secured as 16 March 1945.

Also, your obituary does state he was in the 5th Division. USMCPrice was remarking that the men involved in the flag raising on the 23rd were from the 28th Regiment, one of the regiments which made up the 5th Division.

At latest count as of 2016, the USMC recognizes the following six Marines as being in the iconic flag raising: Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, Harold Schultz, Harlon Block, Michael Strank and Rene Gagnon. John Bradley, a Navy corpsman was thought to be one of the six, but the USMC has decided that while he was nearby, the person long thought to be he was actually Harold Schultz.

There was an earlier flag raising that same morning. According to the USMC, the Marines who raised that flag were Harold Schrier, Ernest Thomas Jr., Henry Hansen, Charles Lindberg, Philip Ward and the USN corpsman, John Bradley. These gents were also from the 28-5; E Company, 2d Battalion, I believe.

"Tell it to the Marines" In British tradition, dating back to the early 1800's, it means Royal Marines were, ummm, gullible, that one should confine one's telling of a tall tale to the marines because sailors won't believe it. In the American tradition, however, from the WWI era, the line is appropriated to mean that one tells of wrongs to be righted to the Marines and they will take care of it. There we are, again, separated by a common language. One notes that the USMC has righted a wrong by identifying Harold Schultz vice John Bradley in the iconic Rosenthal photo, but then turns around and names Bradley as on of the raisers on the earlier flag.

 

oops, somehow I double posted.

 

I think they have a pill for that these days

 

I'll attribute missing this to being really tired and have a six year old daughter...

My uncle wrote a letter to his family the next day about it. It's always possible he stretched the truth. As he was killed a few days later, we'll never really know...

 

Been there done that . . . twice . . . now one's 28 & the other's 25, but you never stop worrying. And then the moppets go grow up without your permission

Perhaps your uncle said something as simple as "I was there when we raised a flag," but I really would expect any actual mention of Iwo Jima, itself, would not get past the censors.

 

Ernest is on the 5th Marines roster, found in The Spearhead; the World War II history of the 5th Marine Division
as being in the 31st Replacement Battalion.
https://archive.org/details/TheSpearhead
page 323.

Where he went as a replacement, I have not yet found.

 

paulb104,

Is there anything else that ties him to the flag raising?

As the article, is, well, not very reliable. Given the first 2 well-known ones on Suribachi were, as you have found, were on February 23rd. The 3rd, final, and "official", flag raising took place on March 14th at Kitano Point. Iwo Jima was declared secure on March 16th, and then again on March 26th.

 

That's amazing! How did you find this?

I'm not a history buff, or knowledgeable about the war, I don't know what it means, but I'm amazed.

 

I don't have much else about anything, period.

I have his Purple Heart, that came with a small card that was 'signed' (probably a litho signature) by Brigadier General Roland Walsh. The medal has Ernest's rank and name inscribed, but there's no number.

I have the article that I posted previously.

I have the story from my mom about the flag raising. We actually just found the physical clipping. For what it's worth, it was from the Lt Harold G Blumberg Post No. 1300, from Brooklyn, NY., Volume 2, No. 1.

That's it. That is all I have of my uncle. I'm considering mailing away to get his service record, just to see what I can learn.

 

Googling for the 5th Marine Division roster. Some time a unit's roster is available online, sometimes not.

It means that your uncle was assigned to the 5th Marine Division, 31st Replacement Battalion, when the battle began. From the veteran interviews I have read, the 31st Replacement Battalion went ashore the first day of the Iwo invasion as part of the shore party to unload weapons, ammunition, supplies, etc. coming in from the transports offshore. So, likely, if your uncle witnessed the flag raising on Suribachi, it would have been from the beaches.

However, the primary duty of the replacement battalion was to provide fresh troops to replace those wounded or killed. As a replacement, he could have been sent to any one of the division's units that had suffered casualties, not necessarily the 28th Marine Regiment(the one involved in the famous flag raising). Or, he could have been assigned to the 28th Marine Regiment after the flag raising had already taken place.

That is why I am asking about other information that you may have that places him at the flag raising other family memories. Any letters, a dairy, etc. The newspaper article only uses the date, but provides no direct link to your uncle and the flag raising.