World War 2 In Review

Sands of Iwo Jima

Publicity still for Sands of Iwo Jima of John Wayne with other Marines in an LVT.

Sands of Iwo Jima is a 1949 war film starring John Wayne that follows a group of United States Marines from training to the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. The film, which also features John Agar, Adele Mara and Forrest Tucker, was written by Harry Brown and James Edward Grant, and directed by Allan Dwan. The picture was a Republic Pictures production.

Sands of Iwo Jima premiered in San Francisco on December 14, 1949 and was eventually given a nationwide release on March 1, 1950. The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (John Wayne), Best Film Editing, Best Sound Recording (Daniel J. Bloomberg) and Best Writing, Motion Picture Story.

Plot

The story is told from the viewpoint of Corporal Robert Dunne.

Tough-as-nails career Marine Sergeant John Stryker (John Wayne) is greatly disliked by the men of his squad, particularly the combat replacements, for the rigorous training he puts them through. He is especially despised by PFC Peter "Pete" Conway (John Agar), the arrogant, college-educated son of Colonel Sam Conway, whom Stryker served under and admired, and PFC Al Thomas (Forrest Tucker), who blames him for his demotion.

When Stryker leads his squad in the invasion of Tarawa, the men begin to appreciate his methods. The platoon leader, Lieutenant Baker, is killed seconds after he lands on the beach, and PFCs "Farmer" Soames and Choynski are wounded. The Marines are pinned down by a pillbox. Several more men are killed before Stryker is able to demolish the pillbox.

Later on, Thomas stops for coffee when he goes to get ammunition for two comrades. As a result, he returns too late — the two Marines run out of ammunition, and Hellenopolis is killed, while Bass is badly wounded.

On their first night, the squad is ordered to dig in and hold their positions. Alone and wounded, Bass begs for help. Conway considers Stryker brutal and unfeeling when he refuses to disobey orders and go to Bass's rescue.

After the battle, when Stryker discovers about Thomas's dereliction, he gets into a fistfight with him. A passing officer spots this serious offense, but Thomas claims that Stryker was merely teaching him judo. Later, a guilt-ridden Thomas abjectly apologizes to Stryker for his dereliction of duty.

Stryker reveals a softer side while on leave in Honolulu. He picks up a bargirl and goes with her to her apartment. He becomes suspicious when he hears somebody in the next room, but upon investigation, finds only a hungry baby boy. Stryker gives the woman some money and leaves.

Later, during a training exercise, McHugh, a replacement, drops a live hand grenade. Everybody drops to the ground, except Conway, who is distracted reading a letter from his wife. Stryker knocks him down, saving his life, and then proceeds to bawl him out in front of the platoon.

Stryker's squad subsequently fights in the battle for Iwo Jima. The squad suffers heavy casualties within the first couple of hours. Stryker's squad is selected to be a part of the 40-man patrol assigned to charge up Mount Suribachi. During the charge, Eddie Flynn, Stein, and Fowler are killed. While the men are resting during a lull in the fighting, Stryker is killed by a Japanese soldier emerging from an spider hole. Bass kills the Japanese shooter. The remaining squad members find and read a letter on his corpse, a letter addressed to his son and expressing things Stryker wanted to say to him, but never did. Moments later, the squad witnesses the iconic flag raising.

Cast

John Wayne as Sgt. John M. Stryker

John Agar as PFC Peter T. "Pete" Conway

Adele Mara as Allison Bromley

Forrest Tucker as PFC Al J. Thomas

Wally Cassell as PFC Benny A. Regazzi

James Brown as PFC Charlie Bass

Richard Webb as PFC "Handsome" Dan Shipley

Arthur Franz as Corporal Robert C. Dunne/Narrator

Julie Bishop as Mary (the bargirl)

James Holden as PFC "Farmer" Soames

Peter Coe as PFC George Hellenopolis

Richard Jaeckel as PFC Frank Flynn

William Murphy as PFC Eddie Flynn

Martin Milner as Pvt Mike McHugh

George Tyne as PFC Hart S. Harris

Hal Baylor as Pvt J.E. "Ski" Choynski (credited as Hal Fieberling)

Leonard Gumley as Pvt Sid Stein

William Self as Pvt L.D. Fowler Jr.

John McGuire as Captain Joyce

Gil Herman as Lt. Baker (uncredited)

Actual Marines

Rene Gagnon (until 2019, Gagnon was incorrectly identified as being a flag-raiser), Ira Hayes, and John Bradley, (until 2016, Bradley was also incorrectly identified as being a flag-raiser) the three survivors of the five Marines and one Navy corpsman who were credited with raising the second flag on Mount Suribachi during the actual battle, appear briefly in the film just prior to the re-enactment. Hayes was also the subject of a film biography, The Outsider, and Bradley the subject of a book by his son James, Flags of Our Fathers.

Also appearing as themselves are 1st Lt. Harold Schrier, who led the flag-raising patrol up Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima and helped raise the first flag, Col. David M. Shoup, later Commandant of the Marine Corps and recipient of the Medal of Honor at Tarawa, and Lt. Col. Henry P. "Jim" Crowe, commander of the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines at Tarawa, where he earned the U.S. Navy Cross.

Actual battle footage is interspersed throughout the film.

Production

The film was based on a screenplay by Harry Brown and James Edward Grant from a story by Harry Brown.

Filming Locations included Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Leo Carrillo State Beach, Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, Janss Conejo Ranch, Thousand Oaks, Republic Studios and Universal Studios.

Acknowledgements

Several of the actors were re-united in the 1970 western Chisum (1970): John Wayne, John Agar, Forrest Tucker, and Richard Jaeckel.

The 1982 Academy Award nominated comedy short film The Great Cognito makes an implied reference to Sands of Iwo Jima. The only character to be seen onscreen is an entertainment impersonator, who changes into the people and events he talks about in his comic patter, using Will Vinton's technique of stop-motion claymation. In the end, while talking of Iwo Jima, Cognito breaks down in tears and leaves the stage, blubbering about how "... John Wayne gets shot."

In the television show King of the Hill (1997–2010), this is the favorite film of Cotton Hill, father of main character Hank Hill. Hank recalls that, during his childhood, his father would travel around Texas searching for showings of this film.

The episode "Call of Silence" (2004) in NCIS's season 2 references the film and a documentary as shared background to Marine history and legacy. The episode shows the NCIS character Timothy McGee watching the documentary To the Shores of Iwo Jima; the character Anthony DiNozzo approaches and, in furtherance of the character's schtick as an avowed and knowledgeable movie buff, begins talking about the theatrical film Sands of Iwo Jima, some scenes of which were taken from the documentary.

The Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers have a song title "The Sands of Iwo Jima" on their 2004 album The Dirty South. It is sung from the perspective of a young boy who has been exposed to World War II through old John Wayne movies. He asks his great-uncle, a World War II veteran, if The Sands of Iwo Jima represents the war properly; the old man smiles, shakes his head and responds, "I never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima."

Idiom

The first recorded use of the phrase "lock and load" is in this film: twice as a metaphor for "get ready to fight" and once as a humorous invitation to drink alcohol (get loaded). As a period term, it similarly appears in the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan. Although the original use and implied meaning may be disputed, it typically described preparations for charging the M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle by first locking the bolt back by pulling the charging handle rearward and then loading an 8-round en bloc clip into the now open magazine.

Original movie poster for 1949 John Wayne movie, Sands of Iwo Jima.

John Wayne on the set of Sands of Iwo Jima.

Original studio caption: Iwo Jima flag raiser John Bradley with John Wayne during the filming of Wayne’s classic war film, “The Sands of Iwo Jima.” Bradley, along with Ira Hayes and Rene Gagnon, played himself. Bradley, a medic and civilian mortician, struggled with PTSD his entire adult life and rarely talked about the war after the film was released. This suffering veteran, directly linked to our country’s greatest war actors, symbolizes the void between Hollywood and the sad realities of war.

Original studio caption: The three survivors of six men who raised that historic flag on Mt. Suribachi, on the island of Iwo Jima, are back in Marine uniforms as they make a Hollywood version of the bloody invasion at Camp Pendleton, California, July 27, 1949. Here with sound trucks in the background they watch the filming of a scene. The survivors are: left to right, Ira H. Hayes of Babchule, Arizona; John Bradley of Antigo, Wisconsin and Rene Gagnon of Manchester, New Hampshire. All three have small parts in the film, including a recreation of the flag raising.

Major General Graves B. Erskine on the set of Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). Erskine appears in this photograph with stars Forrest Tucker, left, and John Wayne, second from left. Col. David M. Shoup is second from right. 1 January 1949.

General Graves B. Erskine (right), Col. David M. Shoup (center) and John Wayne (left) on the set. Erskine and Shoup were provided as technical advisors for the film by the U.S. Marine Corps. Shoup also appeared as himself in a cameo role. 1 January 1949.

John Wayne and John Agar on the set of Sands of Iwo Jima.

The flag raised on Iwo Jima is presented to Major General Graves B. Erskine to be used in the filming of Sands of Iwo Jima. 14 July 1949.

Original studio caption: Six “Marines”, including three of the original sextet, recreate the memorable flag raising on Mt. Suribachi for a Hollywood motion picture version of the Iwo Jima invasion at Camp Pendleton, California, July 27, 1949. Assuming the positions they had in the iconic photograph, taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, are: Ira H. Hayes; John Bradley and Rene Gagnon.

John Wayne publicity photo for Sands of Iwo Jima.

John Wayne, John Agar and Forrest Tucker in a publicity photo for Sands of Iwo Jima.

John Agar and John Wayne in a publicity photo for Sands of Iwo Jima.

Publicity photo from Sands of Iwo Jima. Hayes and Bradley are on the left.

Publicity photo for Sands of Iwo Jima.

Publicity still from Sands of Iwo Jima.

Publicity photo for Sands of Iwo Jima.

John Wayne and his wife, Esperanza Baur arrive at the Sands of Iwo Jima premiere, 1949.

Major General Graves B. Erskine (fifth from the right) attends the Sands of Iwo Jima premiere. John Wayne can also be seen in the photograph (first from the left). 1 December 1949.

Shadow of Suribachi

The men are, from left to right, Ira Hayes, Harold Henry Schultz, Michael Strank, Franklin Sousley, Harold 'Pie' Keller and Harlon Block. Keller was confirmed in 2019, while Schultz was confirmed in 2016.

Shadow of Suribachi: Raising The Flags on Iwo Jima (1995) is a book released during the 50th anniversary of the flag-raising(s) atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima during World War II which was written by Parker Bishop Albee, Jr. and Keller Cushing Freeman. The book mainly examines the controversy over the identification of the flag-raiser who was positioned at the base of the flagpole in Joe Rosenthal’s Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima photograph of the second flag-raising on February 23, 1945.

Overview

Though the authors cover and debunk the various staging myths that have haunted the famous photograph of six men (three were later killed in action after the flag was raised) raising the flag, much of the book is devoted to the story of Sergeant Hank Hansen who was first identified and believed to be in Rosenthal’s famous photograph which became the model for the Marine Corps War Memorial that was completed in 1954. Hansen was a member of the 40-man combat patrol mostly from Third Platoon, E Company, 28th Marines, that climbed up Mount Suribachi and raised the first of two flags atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945. After the battle of Iwo Jima, Hansen (killed in action on March 1) was incorrectly identified as a flag-raiser in the photograph by E Company’s runner (messenger) during the battle, Rene Gagnon, who helped raise the second flag. E Company’s Third Platoon corpsman, John Bradley (incorrectly named a second flag-raiser), also misidentified Hansen as a second flag-raiser. Marine Ira Hayes was the only second flag-raiser (Gagnon, Hayes, and Block were not members of the 40-man patrol) who correctly said the person in the photograph thought to be Hansen was really Corporal Harlon Block. Block was not officially recognized as a second flag-raiser until January 1947.

Ira Hayes Questions Misidentification

Recounted is the story of how Ira Hayes (a surviving second-flag-raiser named by Gagnon) knew that it was actually Corporal Harlon Block and not Hansen in Rosenthal’s photograph (Block and Hansen were both killed in action on Iwo Jima, on March 1, 1945), and tried to bring the “error” to the attention of the Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who was interviewing him about the flag-raising in April 1945 (same person interviewed Gagnon on April 7, and days later, Bradley), in Washington, D.C., before the May 11, 7th War Loan drive (7th bond selling tour; Gagnon, Hayes, and Bradley were to take the actual second-flag with them to 33 U.S. cities across America to sell bonds to help pay for the war) but was told that since both Hansen and Block names were already released publicly as being flag-raisers in the photograph by the Marine Corps (on April 8) and since both were deceased, he should let it go (Hayes was ordered back to E Company in Hawaii on April 24 and left April 25 before the bond tour ended on July 4). Their story differs from that of most Hayes biographers as they transcribe a letter which Hayes wrote to Belle Block (Harlon’s mother) on July 12, 1946, confirming it was her son Harlon in the photograph (after she first wrote to him). The authors’ do not mention the “hitchhiking to Texas to tell them the truth” story.

After Belle Block sent Hayes’ letter to her congressman through Mr. Block in September 1946, the congressman wrote the Marine Corps asking them to look into the matter. Hayes (second flag-raisers Hayes, Block, Michael Strank, and Franklin Sousley were members of Second Platoon, E Company) gave an affidavit listing the names of the six flag-raisers (including Bradley) in the photograph to the Marine Corps during their investigation the following December (began on December 4) into the identities of the six flag-raisers in Rosenthal’s photograph, stating on the record that it was actually Block and not Hansen in the photograph, and pointed out several significant uniform discrepancies between the figure in the famous photograph and that of Hansen in photographs taken earlier that day and in Rosenthal’s “Gung Ho” photograph of several Marines (sixteen Marines and two corpsmen) including Hansen (wearing his cap and parachutist boots) under the second flag/flagstaff taken only moments after the second flag-raising.

Before seeing Hayes’ hand-written notes and identifications on the photographs, both Gagnon and Bradley sent notarized statements reaffirming their earlier identification of Hansen. After being shown Hayes’ material, Bradley wrote a letter to the investigators which he ended by saying, “...it could be Block.” Hayes’ material and Bradley’s letter were then sent to Gagnon, who, according to this book, gave in and acquiesced in a letter, the first paragraph of which was copied word-for-word from Bradley’s.

Conclusion

On January 15, 1947, the Marine Corps appointed investigating board found that the figure at the base of the flagpole in the photograph had been “incorrectly identified since April 8, 1945, as being Sergeant Henry O. Hansen.” Furthermore, they stated that “to the best of the ability of the Board to determine at this time, the above-mentioned figure is that of Corporal Harlan [sic] H. Block.”

Albee and Freeman conclude that it is ultimately impossible to tell, based only on the photographic evidence, who is at the base of the flagpole.

References

USMC Statement on Marine Corps Flag Raisers, Office of U.S. Marine Corps Communication, 23 June 2016

Shadow of Suribachi: Raising The Flags on Iwo Jima. Parker Bishop Albee, Jr. and Keller Cushing Freman. 1995. Praeger Publishers.

Survivors of Iwo Jima flag raising at unveiling of statue in New York, May 11, 1945. Joe Rosenthal’s iconic photograph made them celebrities at the War Bond rallies. L-R Rene Gagnon, John H. Bradley, and Ira H. Hayes.

Hayes, Bradley and Gagnon with the flag, New York, May 11, 1945.

Bradley in the White House stands next to a War Bond drive poster depicting the flag raising, May 11, 1945.

Marine Private First Class Ira Hayes points himself out in the historic picture of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima.

From left, Marine Private First Class Rene Gagnon, Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John H. Bradley, and Marine Private First Class Ira Hayes stand together as they look at a War Loan poster, which features an illustration of their likeness based on Joe Rosenthal's photograph of them and their comrades as they raise an American flag on Iwo Jima's Mt. Suribachi.

From left, Marine Private Ira Hayes, Pharmacist Mate 2nd Class John H Bradley, US Secretary of the Navy James V Forrestal, and Marine Private Rene Gagnon, hoist a flag at the US Capitol. The Marines had been present at the historic Iwo Jima flag-raising on Iwo Jima. Here, they hoist that same flag in May 1945.

John H. Bradley, left, Ira Hayes, middle and Rene Gagnon, right, are pictured at a memorial service after the war. Bradley and Gagnon were both thought to have been in the historical Iwo Jima photograph, but that has now proven to be false.

It appears that it was Corporal Harold 'Pie' Keller who was among the six men featured in the iconic photo, although he never mentioned it to his children.

Marine Lt. Col. E.R. Hagenah, right, presents a bronze statue modeled after Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal’s picture of Marines raising the American Flag on Mt. Suribachi in Iwo Jima to Pres. Harry Truman, left, at the White House, June 4, 1945, Washington, D.C. Rosenthal is third from right and Felix de Weldon, sculpture of the statue, is at second from left.

Pima Indian survivor of the Mt. Suribachi Flag-raising and Indian veteran of Bataan Death March with Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron Published caption: HEROES: Ira Hayes, left, a Pima Indian survivor of the Mt. Suribachi Flag-raising, and Sgt. Henry Reed, Indian veteran of Bataan Death March, call on Mayor Bowron. They are here on a trip to protest court rulings discriminating against their race in housing. 23 March 1947.

Poster for the Seventh War Loan Drive (May 14–June 30, 1945).

Seventh War Loan poster.

The statue was nine years in the making. It was modeled after the photograph snapped by Joe Rosenthal, then with the Associated Press, on the morning of February 23, 1945. Rosenthal was in the Pacific on assignment with the wartime picture pool. Almost immediately upon release of the picture which soon won world-wide fame, Feliz De Welden, an internationally known sculptor on duty with the Navy, constructed a scale model of the scene. A life-sized plaster model followed. Heroic sized heads of the six Marines who participated in the flag-raising were then modeled in clay, over steel framework. Legs, arms, hands and shoes, in plaster, were added. The completed plaster model of the entire group in heroic size was cut into 108 pieces, then cast in bronze and welded together at the Bedi-Rassy Art Foundry in Brooklyn. Three trucks were needed to haul the statue to Washington for final assembling. Various stages in the making of the giant memorial are pictured on October 9, 1954.

Felix W. DeWeldon, sculptor of the famous Marine Corps Memorial is shown putting finishing touches on the plaster model, prior to its being cut into sections for bronze casting.

Assembly work started September 13, 1954 on the huge Iwo Jima monument, depicting the raising of the flag on Mt. Suribachi, on a Virginia bluff overlooking the Potomac River across from the nation’s Capital. The heavy bronze statue, based on the celebrated photograph by the AP’s Joe Rosenthal, will stand on a bluff near Arlington National Cemetery.

The Marine Band parades past the Marine Corps War Memorial – a study in bronze of the Iwo Jima Flag raising on during a memorial to Marine dead in connection with a reunion of Veterans of four Marine divisions. The Marine Corps War Memorial is seen in Arlington, Virginia. Joe Rosenthal, the Associated Press photographer who won a Pulitzer Prize for his immortal image of World War II servicemen raising an American flag over battle-scarred Iwo Jima. Rosenthal’s iconic photo, shot on February 23, 1945, became the model for the Iwo Jima Memorial near Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Mothers of two Marines who lost their lives after helping to raise the flag on Mt. Suribachi pose with three survivors and Vice President Nixon in front of the Iwo Jima monument, November 10, 1954 at the dedication ceremony in Washington. From left to right: John H. Bradley of Wisconsin; Goldie Price of Kentucky, mother of the late Pfc. Franklin R. Sousley; Nixon; Belle Block of Texas, mother of the late Cpl. Harlon H. Block; Pfc. Rene A. Gagnon of New Hampshire; and Pfc. Ira Hayes of Arizona.

United States Marine Corps War Memorial by Felix de Weldon at night in Arlington, Virginia.

Rene Gagnon comforts Nancy Hayes after the burial of her son Ira, one of the Iwo Jima flag-raisers, in Arlington National Cemetery, February 2, 1955. Gagnon and Hayes were among six Marines who raised the flag atop Mt. Suribachi in 1945. Hayes, a Pima Indian, died of exposure last week on the reservation where he lived in Arizona.

Rene Gagnon hands a stone from Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima to widow of Japanese Lt. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, in Tokyo, Japan, February 25, 1965. Lt. Gen. Kuribayashi committed suicide on the Island after the Japanese were defeated at Iwo Jima. At the time, Gagnon was believed to be one of six U.S. Marines in flag-raising picture on the Pacific Island. From left at presentation in Tokyo are: Taro Kuribayashi, the general's son; a marine interpreter; Mrs. Yoshii Kuribayashi, Gagnon; his wife, and Rene Gagnon, Jr.

Iwo Jima 20th Anniversary Ceremonies, 1965.

General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., Commandant of the Marine Corps and General Holland M. Smith at the 20th Anniversary ceremonies for the battle of Iwo Jima in 1965.

Iwo Jima 20th Anniversary Ceremonies. Marine Corps wreath layers bow their heads during prayer at ceremonies commemorating the 20th anniversary of the landing at Iwo Jima in World War II. Left to right: General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., Commandant of the Marine Corps; General Holland M. Smith, USMC (Retired); Colonel Robert B. Carney; and the Lieutenant General Officer, Marine Barracks, 8th and Eye Streets, S.E.

Iwo Jima 20th Anniversary Ceremony, 1965. General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., Commandant of the Marine Corps; General Holland M. Smith; Colonel Robert B. Carney; and the Lieutenant General Officer, Marine Barracks, 8th and Eye Streets, S.E.

Iwo Jima 20th Anniversary Ceremony, 1965. General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., Commandant of the Marine Corps and General Holland M. Smith.

Iwo Jima 20th Anniversary Ceremony. Marine Commandant, General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., General Holland M. Smith, USMC (Retired) and Colonel Robert B. Carney, Jr., receive the review during ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the landing in World War II.

Holland Smith and a Priest at Marine Corps Memorial, Arlington, Virginia, n.d.

Rene Gagnon, Holland Smith, Graves Erskine, and Constance Erskine, Cape Coral, Florida, circa 1960s.

Starting third from left: Rene Gagnon, Holland Smith, Graves Erskine, Cape Coral, Florida, circa 1960s.