Basil
06-04-2018, 12:14 AM
I just watched a fascinating show on the Smithsonian Channel about how the men who raised (the second) flag on Iwo Jima (the one that became the iconic photo and monument) were misidentified for over 70 years. The mystery began when a Marine consultant on Clint Eastwood's movie "Flags of our Fathers" noticed something wrong while looking at the iconic photo. He noticed that the man identified as John Bradly, who was a Corpsman, was not wearing what a Corpsman should be wearing. After much forensic study of films of that day and other photographs, it was determined that the man that had been identified as Bradly was in fact 19 year old PVT 1st Class Franklin Sousley from Ky. But the problem was, Sousley had already been identified as one of the flag raisers, but he had been thought to be in a different position. It turns out that Bradly, who had helped raise the first flag, was not one of the men who raised the second flag. So with Sousley now in the position once thought to be Bradly, who was the man that was originally thought to he Sousley? After much very good sleuthing of the original photo and other films and photos from that day, the true identity of the man originally thought to be Sousley, was in fact Harold Henry Shultz. This 50 minute show was fascinating as it detailed how the mistake was first noticed and all the forensic study that went into determining the truth and correcting 70 years of incorrect history in 2016. In researching Shultz's life after the war, it appears that he must have known he was actually one of the men in the iconic photo, but he never sought to correct the record or seek the spot light.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Schultz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Schultz