Postcard from Iwo Jima

[Oddball]

TOKYO – For decades, the faded photograph of a baby Japanese girl and a child's colorful drawing hung on a wall in the home of Franklin Hobbs III in America.

As a 21-year-old U.S. soldier fighting on Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, Hobbs found them in the pocket of a fallen Japanese soldier and took them as a souvenir.

Until recently, he tried not to think too much about the battle or the photo and drawing. Then, a few years ago, at his wife's suggestion, he decided to try to give them back.

For the girl in the photo and her sister, they meant the world.

Hobbs, now 86, returned to Japan this week for the first time since the war and met with one of the daughters whose life he changed by returning the items. Chie Takekawa had drawn the picture of an air raid drill that Hobbs found on her father — a man she barely knew and whose remains have never been found.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101028/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_iwo_jima_mementos

All I can say is......wow.

 

[waltky]

The first raising with the smaller flag wasn't photographed, mebbe he was part of that one...

Author Says He Now Thinks Father Wasn't Iwo Jima Flag-raiser
May 04, 2016 — The author of a best-selling book about his father and other men who raised a U.S. flag at Iwo Jima during World War II said Tuesday he no longer believes his father was in an iconic photograph of the event.

James Bradley, who wrote the book "Flags of Our Fathers," said in a telephone interview that questions raised about the photo by two amateur historians, which have prompted a Marine Corps investigation, led him to think back on comments his father made about the 1945 flag-raising. Those comments by John Bradley, who died in 1994, now lead James Bradley to believe his father participated in an earlier flag-raising, but not the one captured in the famous picture. "My father raised a flag on Iwo Jima," Bradley told The Associated Press. "The Marines told him way after the fact, 'Here's a picture of you raising the flag.' He had a memory of him raising a flag, and the two events came together."

AP photographer Joe Rosenthal shot the photo on Feb. 23, 1945, on Mount Suribachi, only days into a bloody battle with the Japanese that would stretch on for weeks. The picture was displayed on front pages of newspapers across the U.S., later was used in a war bond sale and was depicted in the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Since 1947, the Marines have identified the Iwo Jima flag-raisers as John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Harlon Block, Michael Strank and Franklin Sousley. All were Marines except Bradley, who was a Navy corpsman.

On Monday, the Marine Corps announced it had begun investigating whether it mistakenly identified one of the men after history buffs Eric Krelle, of Omaha, Nebraska, and Stephen Foley, of Wexford, Ireland, began raising doubts about the matter. They argued that the man believed to be Bradley actually was Sousley, and that the person for decades thought to be Sousley was Harold Henry Schultz, who previously wasn't thought to have any connection to the flag-raising. All of those involved in the flag-raising have died, including three who were killed in later fighting at Iwo Jima.

Bradley, whose book was made into a movie directed by Clint Eastwood, said misidentifying the men who joined in the second flag-raising would be an easy mistake. "The key is, no one was keeping track," he said. "There was the fog of war, post-traumatic stress." Bradley said after reviewing his father's statements and photographs from that day on Mount Suribachi, he's confident his father wasn't in the famous picture, but it's impossible to be 100 percent certain. "I know what these guys look like. I've studied them for years," he said. "But I could be wrong."

Author Says He Now Thinks Father Wasn't Iwo Jima Flag-raiser | Military.com

 

[waltky]

Oops!...

Marines: Identities of Iwo Jima Flag Raisers Were Mistaken
Jun 23, 2016 — The Marine Corps says one of the six men long identified in an iconic World War II photograph showing the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima was actually not in the image.

The Marines announced Thursday that an investigation launched after questions were raised by two amateur historians determined that a previously unknown Marine was in the picture shot by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal during a horrific battle on the tiny island.

A panel found that Private First Class Harold Schultz, of Detroit, was in the photo and that Navy Pharmacist's Mate 2nd Class John Bradley wasn't in the image. Bradley had participated in an earlier flag-raising on Mount Suribachi.

The Marines began a review after being contacted by researchers working on a Smithsonian Channel documentary.

Marines: Identities of Iwo Jima Flag Raisers Were Mistaken | Military.com

See also:

1 of 2 Remaining Doolittle Raiders Dies in Montana
Jun 23, 2016 — One of the last two surviving members of the Doolittle Raiders — who bombed Japan in an attack that stunned that nation and boosted U.S. morale — has died in Montana, his family said.

Retired Staff Sgt. David Jonathan Thatcher died Wednesday in a Missoula hospital. He was 94. He suffered a stroke on Sunday, Thatcher's son Jeff told the Missoulian newspaper. Thatcher's death leaves Retired Lt. Col. Richard "Dick" Cole of Comfort, Texas, as the only living airman from among 80 who took off from an aircraft carrier on 16 B-25 bombers to target factory areas and military installations in Japan on April 18, 1942. Afterward, the planes headed for airfields in mainland China, realizing they would run out of fuel, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. The mission lifted American spirits five months after Pearl Harbor was bombed and forced the Japanese to spend resources defending their home islands. Thatcher was engineer-gunner aboard the plane nicknamed "The Ruptured Duck."

After the bombing, Thatcher's plane — running low on fuel — crash landed in the ocean near China. The plane flipped over and all the crew members except for Thatcher were seriously injured. Thatcher was knocked out, but soon regained consciousness, gathered the rest of the crew, administered first aid and convinced some Chinese guerrillas to take the crew to safety in inland China. Thatcher received a Silver Star for gallantry in action. The crew's crash-landing and evasion of Japanese troops in China was depicted in the movie "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," based on the book written by the plane's pilot, Lt. Ted Lawson.

In this April 18, 2015 file photo two members of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Staff Sgt. David Thatcher, front left, and Lt. Col. Richard "Dick" Cole, right, pose for photos at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Dayton, Ohio.​

Because the bombing run was so dangerous, all those involved were volunteers. Thatcher said they gave little thought about earning a place in history. "We figured it was just another bombing mission," he told The Associated Press in an interview in March 2015. In the years afterward, though, he said, they realized: "It was an important event in World War II." After his military career, Thatcher worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 30 years as a clerk and later a letter carrier. He retired in 1980. He stayed in contact with the surviving members of the Doolittle Raiders and attended nearly every reunion the group held through the Final Toast in November 2013.

In March 2015, Thatcher and Cole presented the Raiders' Congressional Gold Medal for heroism and valor to the Air Force museum for permanent display. Thatcher was born on July 31, 1921 in Bridger, Montana, one of 10 children. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Dawn; three of their five children and seven grandchildren. Thatcher's funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday at Garden City Funeral Home, followed by burial with full military honors at Sunset Memorial Gardens.

1 of 2 Remaining Doolittle Raiders Dies in Montana | Military.com