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One of the most iconic images in America is a 1945 photo of six Marines raising a flag at Iwo Jima, a Japanese Island where one of the bloodiest WWII battles was waged. The photo was used on a stamp and it was brought to life on the big screen by Clint Eastwood. It inspired the war memorial at Arlington National Cemetery and it has become a general symbol of the spirit of the U.S. Marines.
The three flag-raising soldiers who survived the war went on to fame and glory, but last week, news broke that one man in that photo has been mis-identified for 70 years.
What you didn’t hear, was that it was a local expert who confirmed who was really raising that flag that day.
You can’t see faces of the Marines raising the flag, but since 1945 the man in the middle has been identified as John Bradley, and the man behind him as Franklin Sousley. Bradley’s identity has always been contentious. As a medical corpsman, he would have had a different uniform.
Last year, Michael Plaxton was asked to investigate. He is the forensic video analyst who works with Hamilton police. At the Tim Bosma murder trial, for example, Plaxton presented all the surveillance footage. He used the same skills on the Iwo Jima photo.
“I’m going to treat all these people as unknown subjects, and we’ll work out who is who.”
Plaxton had film footage of the same photo to work with, and he had other photos that were taken when a flag was raised on Iwo Jima’s dormant volcano earlier that same day. He used those to compare details between men.
“At this point they’ve been fighting four days, so their uniforms get their own scuffs and tears and things. Buttons go missing, straps break.”
It didn’t take long for Plaxton to figure out this wasn’t John Bradley, it was the man thought to be behind Bradley in the photo.
“If we arrive at the conclusion that this person is actually Frank Sousley, then who is this? This was originally identified as Frank Sousley.”
Plaxton had a group photo and went through each image. The man he was trying to identify had a broken strap on his helmet, and his rifle strap was attached higher on the barrel than normal. Plaxton deduced the mystery flag raiser was Private Harold Schultz. .
“Then it got a little more personal, because I’m thinking, what’s his story?”
Schultz has one living relative, a step daughter, who says he only once mentioned being at the flag raising.
“The impression you get is that he was a shy, unassuming loner. Didn’t even marry until he was 60.”
So , thanks to a Hamilton expert, Detroit’s Harold Schultz will be added to the inscription at the Arlington War Memorial, and a new documentary will air on the Smithsonian channel this weekend.
