Texana Thursday: 4 Things You Might Not Know about Harlon Henry Block and the Flag at Iwo Jima

Texan Harlon Block, far right, was part of the flag raising at Iwo Jima (Associated Press photo)

Perhaps the most iconic photograph of World War II was of the U.S. Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima in the Pacific.

Joe Rosenthal, a combat photographer for the Associated Press, took the photo on February 23, 1945—73 years ago next Friday The photograph was the inspiration for the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial in Washington, and has been imitated or reproduced in other media as well.

Yet not everyone knows the men who were immortalized in the photo. One of them, Harlon Henry Block, was a Texan. Here are some things you might not know about him.

1. Block grew up in Weslaco, Texas.

Weslaco is east of McAllen, in South Texas. Block was born in 1924 in Yorktown, Texas, which is southeast of San Antonio. but grew up in Weslaco. In 1943, during the war, Block joined the Marines. He was 19 years old when he enlisted.

2. Block was one of six Marines photographed.

U.S. Marine Harlon Block (public domain photo)

In the photograph, Block is at far right, planting the flag into the ground.

The others, looking at the photograph from left to right, are Ira Hayes, Harold Schultz, Michael Strank, Franklin Sousley, and Rene Gagnon. Gagnon is obscured by Sousley in the picture.

If the name Ira Hayes sounds familiar, the songwriter Peter LaFarge wrote a song, “Ira Hayes,” what Johnny Cash and other singers performed. Hayes, Gagnon, and Schultz all survived the war.

3. Block was killed in the battle.

Block, Sousley, and Strank were all killed during the battle. In Block’s case, he was killed in action on March 1, 1945—a week after the photo was taken—when his unit advanced towards Nishi Ridge.

4. Block is buried in Texas.

Block was buried with his fellow Marines on Iwo Jima. In 1949, his body was returned for private burial in Weslaco. In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the battle, his body was moved to the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, in South Texas. Today he is buried next to the Iwo Jima Memorial there.