Marine Corps Says Another Marine Wrongly Identified in Iwo Jima Photo
FOR THE RECORD
The Marine Corps acknowledged Wednesday that it has misidentified one of the six men in an iconic photo of the U.S. flag being raised over Iwo Jima for the past 74 years. A team of three historians concluded that Cpl. Harold “Pie” Keller has wrongly been identified as Pfc. Rene Gagnon in the photograph, after reviewing film footage from Mount Suribachi and photos taken by other soldiers who were there. “Regardless of who was in the photograph, each and every Marine who set foot on Iwo Jima, or supported the effort from the sea and air around the island is, and always will be, a part of our Corps’ cherished history,” the Marine Corps said in a statement. “In the words of General David H Berger, Commandant of the Marine Corps, ‘they are all heroes.’” The addition of Keller’s name comes three years after another Marine Corps investigation found that Pfc. Harold Schultz was one of the six flag-raisers, not Navy hospital corpsman John Bradley, which had been reported for seven decades.