Harold Schultz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 28, 1925 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | May 16, 1995 (aged 70) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Place of burial | Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service | United States Marine Corps |
| Years of service | 1943–1945 |
| Rank | Corporal |
| Unit | 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
| Awards | Purple Heart Combat Action Ribbon |
Harold Henry Schultz (January 28, 1925 – May 16, 1995) was a United States Marine corporal who was wounded in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. He was a member of the patrol that captured the top of Mount Suribachi and raised the first U.S. flag on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. Though he was not a raiser of the first flag, he was one of the six Marines who raised the larger replacement flag on the mountaintop the same day as shown in the iconic photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.
The first flag flown over Mount Suribachi at the south end of Iwo Jima was regarded to be too small to be seen by the thousands of Marines fighting on the other side of the mountain, so it was replaced by the second one. Although there were photographs taken of the first flag flying on Mount Suribachi including some of Schultz, there is no photograph of Marines raising the first flag. The second flag-raising became famous and took precedence over the first flag-raising after copies of the second flag-raising photograph appeared in newspapers two days later. The second flag-raising was also filmed in color.[1]
Schultz was not recognized as one of the second flag-raisers until the Marine Corps announced on June 23, 2016, after an investigation, that he was in the historic photograph which was taken by combat photographer Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press.[2] The Marine Corps also stated that Schultz was incorrectly identified as Private First Class Franklin Sousley in the photograph. Sousley himself was also incorrectly identified as Navy corpsman John Bradley, who they determined is not in the photo. Schultz is one of three Marines in the photograph who were not originally identified as flag raisers.[3]
The Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, is modeled after the historic photograph of six Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima.[4]
- ^ You Tube, Smithsonian Channel, 2008 Documentary (Genaust films) "Shooting Iwo Jima" [1] Retrieved March 14, 2020
- ^ "Warrior in iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising photo was misidentified, Marines Corps acknowledges". NBC News. 2019-10-16. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ Robertson, Breanne, ed. (2019). Investigating Iwo: The Flag Raisings in Myth, Memory, and Esprit de Corps (PDF). Quantico, Virginia: Marine Corps History Division. pp. 243, 312. ISBN 978-0-16-095331-6.
- ^ "The Pulitzer Prizes".