Marines: Identities of Iwo Jima flag raisers were mistaken

Schultz died in 1995, aged 70.

The six flag-raisers were originally identified as Cpl.

“My mom was distracted and not listening and Harold said, ‘I was one of the flag raisers, ‘” MacDowell said. Bradley had participated in an earlier flag-raising on Mount Suribachi.

The photograph become popular very quickly, appearing on newspapers across the United States after it was published, as well as on postage stamps and War Bond posters.

The photograph has been ingrained in American culture since nearly the moment it was taken – a steadfast presence in high school textbooks and an enduring symbol of USA perseverance.

Bradley’s son, with co-author Ron Powers, wrote a best-selling book, “Flags of our Fathers”, about his father, and the other men, later made into a movie by Clint Eastwood. The Marines confirmed that John Bradley, who died in 1994, was involved “in the initial flag raising hours before the famous photo was taken”. Schultz was engaged once after serving in World War II, but his fianceé died of a brain tumor before they Wednesday. He eventually married at the age of 63, and was known for being “quiet and self-effacing”.

Schultz may have mentioned his role at least once.

“After he said that, it was clear he didn’t want to talk about it”, she added.

The new investigation was prompted by growing doubts about the identity of Bradley in the photo.

According to Douglas Nickel, the Andrea V. Rosenthal Professor of Modern Art at Brown University, the photo’s composition is such that the faces of the men pictured are largely obscured, making the photograph much more about what the soldiers stood for and meant to the public, rather than about the soldiers as individuals.

The Marine Corps review panel, which began its work two months ago, consisted of several active duty and retired Marines along with two military historians.

He said it required more careful and independent analysis to draw any firm conclusions, however.

And this, the Marine Corps believes, is at the heart of the confusion.

It wasn’t the first time the Marines had to correct the record.

During the first battle that occurred in Japan’s inner defense zone, 6,800 US Marines died on Iwo Jima.

This undated photo provided by the Smithsonian Channel shows Private First Class Harold Schultz of Detroit. The photo helped cement the Marines’ reputation as one of the world’s toughest fighting forces.

“Our history is important to us, and we have a responsibility to ensure it’s right”, Neller said in a statement from the Marine Corps.

The Marines invaded Iwo Jima – a small, volcanic island roughly midway between Guam and the Japanese home islands – on February 19, 1945, hoping to stop Japanese fighter planes from taking off from its airfield.

Few Marines escaped unscathed.

At the time, Marines were helping to capture the tiny Pacific island in a bloody battle against the Japanese during World War II.

“My father raised a flag on Iwo Jima”, Bradley said. Marines paused to cheer. Later in the day, a larger flag was sent to the summit. Marine Corps Memorial near Washington, D.C.

But there was no answer to the mystery of why Schultz remained largely silent about his brush with history.