• Flags of Our Fathers

Date of birth:

January 12th, 1923 (Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona, United States)

Date of death:

January 24th, 1955 (Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona, United States)

Buried on:

Arlington National Cemetery
Plot: 34. Grave: 479A.

Nationality:

American (1776 - present, Republic)

Ira H. Hayes was a marine who was immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's famous World War II photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.

Ira H. Hayes was an Pima Native American, and an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community. He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves on 24 August 1942. After his recruit training he trained as a paratrooper. On 2 December 1942 Hayes joined Company B, 3rd Parachute Battalion, Divisional Special Troops, 3rd Marine Division and saw his first combat in Bougainville, New Guinea.
After disbanding the Marine Corps parachute units he transferred to Company E, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division "The Spearhead" and on 19 February 1945 he took part in the landing on Iwo Jima. On 23 February 1945 he was among the group of Marines who raised the second flag on Mount Suribachi.
Together with the other two survivors of the second flag raising, Navy Pharmacist's Mate John Bradley and Marine Private First Class Rene A. Gagnon, he was assigned to temporary duty with the Finance Division, U.S. Treasury Department, for appearances in connection with the Seventh War Bond Drive.
After the war, Hayes attempted, unsuccessfully, to lead a normal life. He accumulated a record of some fifty arrests for drunkenness.
On 24 January 1955, Hayes was found dead near an abandoned hut close to his home on the Gila River Indian Reservation. The coroner concluded that Hayes's death was due to both exposure and alcohol and there was no police investigation.

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