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Michael Strank
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==== Second flag-raising ==== [[File:Moments after the second flag raising, February 1945.jpg|200px|left|thumb|Marine Corps photo of the two flags on [[Mount Suribachi]]]] [[File:Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, larger - edit1.jpg|thumb|Second flag-raising photograph]] [[File:Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (color).ogg|thumb|Marine Sergeant [[Bill Genaust]]'s color film of the second flag raising<ref name="youtube.com"/> ]] [[File:USMC-00932.jpg|thumb|Strank is fifth from left in [[Joe Rosenthal]]'s "Gung Ho" photo.<ref name="Investigating Iwo">{{cite book |editor-last=Robertson |editor-first=Breanne |date=2019 |title=Investigating Iwo: The Flag Raisings in Myth, Memory, and Esprit de Corps |url=https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/Investigating%20Iwo_WEB3.pdf |location=Quantico, Virginia |publisher=Marine Corps History Division |pages=243, 312 |isbn=978-0-16-095331-6 }}</ref>]] In order for the American flag to be seen more by the thousands of Marines fighting on the other side of Mount Suribachi where most of the Japanese soldiers were located, it was decided that a larger flag should replace the battalion's flag on Mount Suribachi. Captain Severance ordered Sgt. Strank to ascend Mount Suribachi with three Marines from his rifle squad in Second Platoon and raise the replacement flag. Sgt. Strank then ordered Corporal [[Harlon Block]], Private First Class [[Ira Hayes]], and Private First Class [[Franklin Sousley]] to go with him up Mount Suribachi with communication wire (or supplies). Private First Class [[Rene Gagnon]], the Second Battalion's runner (messenger) for E Company, was ordered to take the replacement flag up the mountain and return with the first flag. Once Sgt. Strank's team was on top, Pfc. Hayes and Pfc. Sousley found a Japanese steel pipe to attach the flag to. After the two Marines took the pipe to Sgt. Strank and Cpl. Block near the first flag, the flag was attached to the pipe. As the four Marines got into position to raise the flagstaff, Sgt. Strank and Cpl. Block called out to two nearby Marines to help them raise the heavy flagstaff. Then, under Lt. Schrier's orders, the second flag was raised at approximately 1 p.m. by Sgt. Strank, Cpl. Block, Pfc. Hayes, Pfc. Sousley, Pfc. [[Harold Schultz]], and Pfc. [[Harold Keller]],<ref name="marines.mil">[http://www.marines.mil/News/News-Display/Article/810457/usmc-statement-on-iwo-jima-flagraisers/ USMC Statement on Marine Corps Flag Raisers], Office of U.S. Marine Corps Communication, 23 June 2016</ref><ref name="auto3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/warrior-iconic-iwo-jima-flag-raising-photo-was-misidentified-marines-n1064766|title=Marines correct 74-year-old Iwo Jima error|website=NBC News|date=16 October 2019 }}</ref> as the original flag came down. Pfc. Schultz and Pfc. Keller were members of Lt. Schrier's patrol. In order to keep the second flagstaff in a vertical position in the high winds on the summit, rocks were immediately added to the base of the flagstaff by Pfc. Schultz and Pfc. Keller, and another Marine. Three [[Guy-wire|guy-ropes]] were then tied to the flagstaff to stabilize it. The six Marine flag-raisers were photographed in action by [[Associated Press]] photographer [[Joe Rosenthal]] and by Marine motion picture cameraman Sergeant [[Bill Genaust|William (Bill) Genaust]] (later killed in action) in color. After the second flag-raising, Rosenthal photographed sixteen Marines including Sgt. Strank and two Navy corpsmen around the base of the flagstaff. Rosenthal's black-and-white flag-raising picture, which appeared in newspapers on February 25, 1945, was later titled ''[[Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima]]''. It became the most copied photograph in Marine Corps history.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pulitzer/rosenthal.html|title=Fifty Years Later, Iwo Jima Photographer Fights His Own Battle|first=Mitchell|last=Landsberg|year=1995|agency=Associated Press|accessdate=September 11, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070905115709/http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pulitzer/rosenthal.html|archive-date=September 5, 2007|url-status=dead|df=mdy}}</ref> On March 14, another American flag was officially raised up a flagpole by two Marines under the orders of Lt. Gen. Holland Smith during a ceremony at the [[V Amphibious Corps]] command post on the other side of Mount Suribachi where the [[3rd Marine Division (United States)|3rd Marine Division]] troops were located. The flag flying on the summit of Mount Suribachi since February 23 was taken down. On March 26, 1945, the island was considered secure and the battle of Iwo Jima was officially ended. The 28th Marines left Iwo Jima on March 27 and returned to Hawaii to the 5th Marine Division training camp. Lt. Col. Johnson was killed in action on March 2, Sgt. Genaust was killed on March 4, Sgt. Strank and Cpl. Block were killed on March 1, and Pfc. Sousley was killed on March 21. On March 20, President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] ordered all the men in Rosenthal's photograph be sent to Washington, D.C. after the battle was over. Pfc. Gagnon arrived alone on April 7 and was questioned at Marine Headquarters by a public information officer about the identities of the six flag raisers. Pfc. Gagnon identified Navy [[Hospital corpsman|corpsman]] [[John Bradley (United States Navy)|John Bradley]] and Pfc. Ira Hayes as flag raisers in the photograph and they were sent for and arrived on April 19 and, they were separately questioned that day (Sgt. Strank, Cpl. Block, and Pfc. Sousley were killed on Iwo Jima). All three said they were in the photograph and raised the flag; on April 8, they had been named publicly by the Marine Corps as the surviving flag raisers. Over time it was discovered that all of the second flag-raisers were Marines and that three of the six Marines in Rosenthal's photograph were not correctly identified: Cpl. Block was not recognized until January 1947, Pfc. Schultz was not recognized until June 2016,<ref name="marines.mil"/> and Pfc. Keller was not recognized until October 2019.<ref name="auto3"/> Cpl. Block was incorrectly identified in the photograph as Henry Hansen. Pfc. Schultz was identified as Pfc. Sousley in the photograph. In turn, Pfc. Sousley was identified as PhM2c. Bradley in the photograph. Pfc. Keller was incorrectly identified as Pfc. Gagnon in the photograph. Rosenthal did not take the names of any of the flag raisers in his photograph. Pfc. Schultz and Pfc. Keller did not ever claim publicly to be in Rosenthal's photograph or that they were flag-raisers.
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