US army admits wrongly identifying soldier in iconic Iwo Jima photo
Harold Schultz and not John Bradley was the sixth man caught in the frame
More than 70 years after the end of second world war, the US Marine Corps on Thursday acknowledged a case of mistaken identity in its most iconic image from the conflict.
The classic image – taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal – shows six marines erecting a US flag during a bloody battle on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima in February 1945.
The men have become immortalised in Marine Corps lore, and each is featured on an enormous bronze statue based on the photograph in Arlington National Cemetery.
Our history is important to us, and we have a responsibility to ensure it’s right
But one of the troops – John Bradley – was not actually helping raise the flag at the moment Rosenthal shot the image. He in fact had helped raise a different flag earlier on.
“The Marine Corps now believes Navy Pharmacist’s Mate 2nd Class John Bradley was not in the Rosenthal image, but was involved in the initial flag raising hours before the famous photo was taken,” the marines said in a statement.
“Based upon the evidence reviewed, another Marine, Private First Class Harold Schultz, from Detroit, Michigan, was the sixth man caught in the frame of what is considered the most famous war photograph.”