The New York Times recently reported that an internal Marine Corps investigation concluded that for more than 70 years it had wrongly identified one of the men in one of the most famous American photos. The Marines found that a private first class, Harold Schultz, was one of the six men in the iconic photo of the flag being raised over Iwo Jima during World War II.
Joe Rosenthal took the Pulitzer-Prize winning photo on February 23, 1945. For years it was thought that one of the men in the photo was a Navy hospital corpsman named John Bradley. But the recent inquiry, which included careful study of the uniforms in the photo, concluded that Schultz was in the photo, not Bradley. (Below is a brief video showing the famous raising of the flag at Iwo Jima.)
The Marines opened the investigation in response to questions raised by producers working on the documentary, The Unknown Flag Raisers of Iwo Jima. The production company, Lucky 8 TV took their evidence to the chief historian of the Marines, Charles Neimeyer, leading to the appointment of a panel to investigate the issue. The film is being shown on the Smithsonian Channel.
Harold Schultz
There is something sad about the news that connects together Bradley and Schultz. As for Harold Schultz, he did not live to see the news, having died in 1995 at age 70.
The day after the photo was taken, Schultz was wounded and sent home. He lived in Los Angeles as a mail sorter, marrying for the first time at the age of 60. He married a neighbor, although they never moved in together and he rarely discussed his time in the military.
Schultz, however, did know he was in the photo. He just did not talk about it. His stepdaughter Dezreen MacDowell said that one night during dinner, he did mention that he was one of the flag raisers. When she told him he was a hero, he responded, “No, I was a Marine.”
MacDowell said he never talked about it again. She explained, “He was a very self-effacing Midwestern person.” She was happy to hear he would finally be getting the recognition: “He was a kind and gentle man.”
Schultz’s story seems both happy and sad. He finally got the recognition, but he did not live to see it. Then again, it appears he did not seek any recognition for his part in the photo.
John Bradley
John Bradley’s story, and how it affects his child, has a tragic quality too. Along with Ron Powers, Bradley’s son James Bradley wrote a best-selling book, Flags of Our Fathers
After the battle, John Bradley participated in war bond drives with other survivors who raised the flag, Ira Hayes and Rene Gagnon. Bradley also played himself in the 1949 movie Sands of Iwo Jima, which starred John Wayne.
John died in 1994, but his son James Bradley learned about the investigation while it was going on. And he came to conclude that his father had participated in an earlier flag-raising and mistakenly thought he was in the famous photo.
John Bradley never heard that he was not in the photo. But I feel bad for his son, who invested so much into believing his father was in the photo. He seemed accepting of the new discovery, although he did not participate in the documentary or the New York Times story.
Flags of Our Fathers
Clint Eastwood directed the movie version of Bradley’s book, Flags of Our Fathers (2006). Below is the trailer.
My favorite scene in the movie involves John “Doc” Bradley (played by Ryan Phillippe) near the end of the film. On his deathbed, John tells his son James about how he and other Marines went swimming after the battle and the famous photo.
The movie then shows the Marines on the beach. They are laughing and jumping in the water. They were humans.
It is a beautiful scene, humanizing the soldiers we so often think of as something like superheroes. And the scene may remind one of how our parents and grandparents were once young men and women. No matter what they accomplished, they once were young and like their children, just having some fun on the beach.
Two Different Kinds of Heroes
I hope James Bradley is not too disappointed upon learning his father was not in the photo as portrayed in his book and in the film. All of the soldiers at Iwo Jima were doing something special for their country, for their families, and for their buddies.
As for Schultz, he stands in stark contrast to our current fame-seeking fads. Here was a man who was part of something pretty cool. And he not only never Tweeted or or put it in Facebook, he barely mentioned it to those he loved. And so a man in one of the most famous photographs of all time was someone who would never have taken a selfie.
Leave your two cents in the comments. Stamp photo via public domain.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)