A Pima US Marine (1923 to 1955) who was one of the six men in the photograph of the second flag raising on Iwo Jima.

When was the flag raised on Iwo Jima?

On 23 February 1945; a small first flag was replaced the same day by the larger flag shown in the famous photograph.

What happened to Ira Hayes after the war?

He struggled with post-traumatic stress and alcoholism and died in 1955 at the age of 32.

Was Ira Hayes a paratrooper?

Yes. He volunteered for the Marine parachute units and fought with them on Bougainville before joining the 5th Marine Division.

Ira Hayes: the Pima Marine of Iwo Jima

Q: Where is Ira Hayes buried?

At Arlington National Cemetery.

On 23 February 1945 six Marines raised a large American flag¹ on Mount Suribachi, and a photographer's split-second image of them became one of the most famous pictures ever taken. One of the six was Ira Hayes, a quiet young Pima from Arizona.

From Gila River

Ira Hayes was born in Arizona in 1923² and grew up in the Gila River Indian Community. In 1942 he enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve² and volunteered to become a paratrooper.

Bougainville

Hayes fought with the Marine paratroopers on Bougainville² in the Solomon Islands. When the parachute units were disbanded, he joined the 28th Marines of the new 5th Marine Division.²

The flag on Suribachi

On 19 February 1945 his division landed on Iwo Jima. Four days later a small flag was raised on the summit of Mount Suribachi, and it was replaced the same day by a larger one. Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the second raising showed six men, among them Hayes. Of the six, three were killed in the weeks of fighting that followed¹.

Marines dug into volcanic sand below the bulk of Mount Suribachi — US Marines in forward positions facing Mount Suribachi on 22 February 1945, the day before the flag raisings (US Army Signal Corps collection). Public domain

The bond tour

Hayes and two men then identified as flag raisers (both later found not to be in the photograph¹) were sent home to raise money for the Seventh War Loan. Uneasy with being called a hero while friends had died, Hayes struggled on the tour and was ordered back to his unit before it ended, rejoining it in Hawaii. In 1946 he helped correct the identity of one of the men³ in the photograph.

Poster of Marines raising the flag with the words Now All Together — Seventh War Loan poster by C. C. Beall, 1945, a painted reproduction of Rosenthal's flag-raising photograph. Public domain

A haunted life

After the war Hayes suffered from what would now be recognised as post-traumatic stress, and struggled with alcoholism. In 1954 he attended the dedication of the Marine Corps War Memorial⁴, modelled on the photograph. He died in January 1955, aged 32², and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His story has been told in songs and films ever since.

White headstone of Ira Hamilton Hayes with small stones placed on top — Ira Hayes' headstone in Section 34 of Arlington National Cemetery, photographed by Elizabeth Fraser for the US Army in 2020. Public domain

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

National Park Service, George Washington Memorial Parkway, “History of the Marine Corps War Memorial” ↩ a b c
Marine Corps History Division, Marine Corps University, “Corporal Ira Hamilton Hayes” ↩ a b c d e
James Bradley with Ron Powers, Flags of Our Fathers (Bantam Books, 2000). ↩
Albert Hemingway, Ira Hayes, Pima Marine (University Press of America, 1988). ↩
Wikipedia, “Ira Hayes”
Wikipedia, “Wikipedia: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima”