Speed Graphic. 1/400th x f/11. Agfa.
Classic.
bookmarking
An accurate and truthful synopsis.
Parodied?
I have never seen it parodied? It is usually regarded with reverence.
Maybe someone doesn’t know the definition of parodied.
One, possibly two Marines in that photo were misidentified.
The story about one as I recall ...and I think it was the Marine where you see his backside as the most prominent feature.
Anyway...the mother of the real participant spoke up not too long after the photo release.
“I’m telling you that’s my boy there, and not the one you say. That’s my boy’s backside, and I oughta know...sure did put a ton of diapers on it!”
Turns out her motherly instincts were correct, and things were fixed.
“The Ballad Of Ira Hayes”
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Gather round me people there’s a story I would tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian
A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land
Down the ditches for a thousand years
The water grew Ira’s peoples’ crops
‘Till the white man stole the water rights
And the sparklin’ water stopped
Now Ira’s folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man’s greed
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
There they battled up Iwo Jima’s hill,
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again
And when the fight was over
And when Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Ira returned a hero
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched and honored; Everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no crops, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira’d done
And when did the Indians dance
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Then Ira started drinkin’ hard;
Jail was often his home
They’d let him raise the flag and lower it
like you’d throw a dog a bone!
He died drunk one mornin’
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lyin’ thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died
By Johnny Cash
Ira Hamilton Hayes was a Pima Native American and a United States Marine who was one of the six flag raisers immortalized in the iconic photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima during World War II. —Wikipedia
Rosenthal had a better ‘delivery’ service than SGT Lou Lowery...
Lowery took the ORIGINAL photo and the 2nd one was ‘staged’.
Having made a living as a sports action photographer I will tell you that taking photos like that are almost pure instinct. You mind sees it and your finger moves before you even realize your have snapped the shutter.
He made taking the image sound so non-chalant but it a testament to high level of skill.
My late father-in-law, US Army, 75th JASCO, saw the flags flying from his regroupment base camp down the hill near the Marine Cemetery. I think he was recovering from wounds at the time.
