World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseIra Hamilton Hayes was born on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Sacaton, Arizona, United States to father Joseph Hayes, a WW1 veteran and a farmer, and mother Nancy Whitaker, a Sunday school teacher at the Assemblies of God church in Sacaton. His ancestry was of the Akimel O'odham (also known as "Pima") Native American. In 1932, his family moved to Bapchule, Arizona. He completed the Phoenix Indian School and then served in the Civilian Conservation Corps in May and Jun 1942. After briefly working as a carpenter, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in Aug 1942. He completed recruit training in Marine Corps Base, San Diego, California, United States in Oct 1942 and volunteered for Marine paratrooper (Paramarine) training at the Marine Parachute School at nearby Camp Gillespie, becoming the first Akimel O'odham/Pima paratrooper.

ww2dbaseHayes shipped out in Mar 1943, and saw his first combat on Bougainville island of the Solomon Islands archipelago in Dec 1943 as an automatic rifleman, wielding a Browning Automatic Rifle. He returned to California in Feb 1944. After the 1st Parachute Regiment was disbanded that month, Hayes was transferred to Company E, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment of the newly activated US 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton near Oceanside, California. In Sep 1944, he arrived in Hawai'i and began training for the invasion of Iwo Jima, a Japanese island in the Ogasawara Archipelago. He landed on the southern beach of Iwo Jima via Haskell-class attack transport USS Talladega on 19 Feb 1945 with the 5th Marine Division. On 23 Feb, 2nd Battalion commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Chandler Johnson ordered a patrol to capture the top of Mount Suribachi, an inactive volcano that overlooked the southern part of the island. When that mission was completed, a flag was raised to signal the success. Johnson saw the flag and recognized that the sight of the flag was a morale booster for the Americans, but the flag that was raised was too small to clearly see, thus he ordered a larger flag to be raised. In the early afternoon, another patrol, including Hayes, was sent with a larger flag. Hayes found a Japanese steel pipe that would serve as a good flag pole, and at 1300 hours the second flag was raised. The moment involving the six men who put up the flag (Michael Strank, Harlon Block, Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, Harold Schultz, and Harold Keller) was captured by Associated Press combat photographer Joe Rosenthal. Hayes left Iwo Jima for Hawai'i on 27 Mar 1945 aboard La Salle-class transport USS Winged Arrow. He remained in Camp Tarawa for training until US President Franklin Roosevelt, who valued the Rosenthal photograph, ordered the surviving flag raisers to return to the United States to participate in morale-boosting events.

ww2dbaseAlthough quiet by nature, Hayes was nevertheless boosted to national stardom during the Seventh War Loan drive. He did not react to being in the limelight well, and problems with alcoholism eventually brought him back to combat. He was disappointed, but the Marine Corps saved his face by announcing that Hayes wished to leave the drive so that he could be back on the front lines, fighting with fellow Marines. After some time in Hawai'i and then in Japan as part of the US occupation force, he was honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton.

ww2dbaseAfter the war, Hayes attempted to lead an anonymous life, only be be disturbed by mail and visitors. "I kept getting hundreds of letters. And people would drive through the reservation, walk up to me and ask, 'Are you the Indian who raised the flag on Iwo Jima'?" He rarely spoke to those around him about the flag raising, although he would always speak of his military service with pride. Hayes, who was convinced that fellow Marine Harlon Block was mis-identified as Henry Hansen, had been bothered by this since the war, and continued to be troubled by it. In May 1946, Hayes walked and hitchhiked 1,300 miles from the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona to Block's father's farm in Weslaco, Texas, United States to tell him that he believes his son was in the famous photograph. In 1949, along with John Bradley and Rene Gagnon, he was invited to star in the John Wayne film "Sands of Iwo Jima", but in the end Hayes and Bradley only appeared in the movie for a few minutes and they hardly acted as consultants; they were simply being used by the producers of the film as instruments of marketing.

ww2dbaseHayes's trouble with alcoholism worsened after the war, leading to his inability to keep a job and being arrested 52 times for public intoxication. It was possible that he had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, a term as well as the related medical studies that would not come for another twenty years. On 24 Jan 1955, Hayes was found dead on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Bapchule, Arizona. He had been drinking with several others, which led to the official report that the death was related to the alcohol consumed, but Hayes' brothers were convinced, though without concrete evidence, that fellow Akimel O'odham/Pima Henry Setoyant had something to do with Hayes' death. The brothers' accusation remained only an accusation. His funeral was held in the C. H. Cook Memorial Church in Sacaton, Arizona. He was buried with full military honors in Section 34 of the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, United States.

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