Investigating Iwo Jima

Six men were given credit for the Iwo Jima flag raise captured by photographer Joe Rosenthal. One was misidentified two years later; but in 2014, an even bigger mystery was solved.
On Thursday, June 14 at 7 p.m., Eric Krelle, a World War II amateur historian, collector and reenactment actor from Omaha, gave a presentation on how he played a crucial role in correcting history, by identifying an unknown flag raiser at Iwo Jima. Krelle was brought in by the Bennington Historical Society and the friends of the Bennington Library.
It all began when Krelle was contacted in 2013 by another World War II historian from Wexford, Ireland.
“An Irishman named Stephen Foley contacted me about a mystery that he was currently working on,” Krelle said. “He had been looking at Joe Rosenthal’s iconic photograph of the flag raisers on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. For years, people believed that Private First Class (PFC) John Bradley was in the photo. Foley said that he didn’t think Bradley was in it, and asked for my help.”
Rosenthal’s famous World War II photo is known as one of the most parodied photos of all time, and possibly the most famous photo of the entire war. Krelle said that this was a big statement from Foley, being that the photo was very iconic. The identities of the six flag raisers had been established for over 70 years. Two years after the photo was taken, it was determined that the man in the first position (the far right side of the photo) was actually Corporal Harlon Block and not Hank Hansen, whom it was originally believed to be. The inaccuracy was corrected thanks to Ira Hayes’ help, who was one of the men at Iwo Jima, who is also featured in the photo. Now, in 2013, Krelle is presented with a speculation that another man was misidentified.
Krelle said that the photo was used to promote seventh war loans to help fund the war. It also inspired the statue of the Marine Corps Memorial in Washington, D.C. A book called Flags of Our Fathers was written in 2000 by James Bradley (John Bradley’s son) about Iwo Jima and the flags, with Clint Eastwood making a movie in 2006 of the same name.
The first thing that Krelle decided to do, to determine the true identity of the man in the third position of the flag raising, was to look at the photograph in great detail.

“So, we start with looking at who was in the photo,” Krelle said. “At the time, it was Harlon Block at the first position on the far right; Rene Gagnon was in the second position, slightly hidden; John Bradley was third; Sergeant Michael Strank being hidden in the fourth position; Franklin Sousley being fifth; and Ira Hayes in the back on the far left side. These six men have always been associated with this photograph.”
Krelle looked over a photo from after the first flag raising. He knew that John Bradley was a pharmacist corpsman, who assisted in medical situations. In the photo, Krelle determined that Bradley was wearing cuffed pant legs with leggings underneath, giant bags of medical supplies, a jungle first-aid pouch on the back of his belt, a KA-BAR knife, pistol belt and suspenders.
When Krelle looked at another photo from the second flag raising, he realized that the man in the third position did not match Bradley’s description. This man was wearing different clothing and equipment, leading Krelle to believe that Foley’s assumption was correct, in that Bradley was not in the photo.
Foley had believed that it was actually Franklin Sousley of Tennessee, who was in the third position. When Krelle reviewed a photo of the flag standing up with men walking away to find rocks to support the makeshift flagpole, Sousley can be seen with all his equipment on, and Krelle was able to truly identify him by his profile.
“I said ‘Alright, we solved this seventy-year-plus mystery, we know it was Sousley and not John Bradley in the third position’,” Krelle said. “But now that left us with another mystery. We had thought for years that Bradley was in the third position and Sousley in the fifth one. But if Sousley was now in Bradley’s position, who is the guy in the fifth position? Now we have a mystery flag raiser in one of the most famous photos of all time.”
With the initial mystery solved, another even bigger mystery arose to take its spot. At this point, Krelle was heavily determined to identify the missing flag raiser. Starting in February of 2014 on a nightly basis, Krelle came home after work, and after spending time with family, he would look through several photographs and videos, looking for any clues as to who the fifth flag raiser could be.
Krelle scoured through multiple photos of various angles and examining multiple factors (clothing, equipment, facial features, weapons), hoping for a breakthrough. He noticed in a video from Bill Genaust that the flag raising only took about ten seconds, with the mystery man jumping in at the last minute to help raise the flag and then walked away immediately after.
“I couldn’t see much about this guy, so I knew we had to figure something out,” Krelle said. “The guys in front and behind him might not have seen him, because it was so quick.”
Then, after about 14 days of constant research, Krelle finally received his clue.

“One man caught my attention; in almost every photo I went through, this one guy had something dangling in front of his face,” Krelle said. “I kept searching, and there he was, the same weird thing hanging from his helmet.”
With a possible breakthrough on the horizon, Krelle grabbed an M1 Marine helmet from his basement to examine. In the helmet, there was a leather strap held by two hooks. Krelle thought that the man in the photo must have busted a hook, causing the strap to hang from the helmet. In another photo, Krelle saw that there were names at the bottom. The name Howard Schultz jumped out at him. Back in the “gung-ho photo”, a man on the right side specifically stood out to Krelle.
“He had a weird scar on his face, and I thought ‘Why does he have this scar?’,” Krelle said. “Then it hit me: the sun was casting a shadow on his face, due to the strap hanging from the helmet. I immediately knew that this was my missing guy.”
Krelle then tested his theory by comparing photos from the first and second flag raisings, and after seeing the same helmet and the way the man had his gun sling hooked up, he knew that his mystery man was Howard Schultz.
“I ran around my house doing a happy dance because I finally figured it out,” Krelle laughed. “I immediately called Mr. Foley in Ireland and told him that I figured it out.”
Afterwards, Krelle posted the research on his website to hopefully get the story out, but received no feedback. In March of 2014, Krelle contacted Matthew Hensen, an investigative writer with the Omaha World-Herald, to help make the story public. Although Hensen seemed hesitant to believe Krelle’s story, after a two-hour meeting at 13th Street Coffee in Omaha, Hensen wanted to help Krelle out.
Krelle said that Hensen went to work, combing the country to find a Howard Schultz in the Marines during World War II. He eventually found the correct Schultz in California. Unfortunately, Schultz passed away in 1995. But, with the help of Schultz’s stepdaughter, Hensen and Krelle went through a packet of Schultz’s information from the war. With official documents and photos, Krelle’s research was confirmed true.
On November 23, 2014, the World-Herald presented it as their seven-page-long cover story.

“After marrying my wife and the birth of my three kids, this was one of the happiest days of my life,” Krelle. “We worked so hard on this; the World-Herald and Matthew [Hansen] did a great job.”
The story sent shockwaves out to the country, with people waking up to realize that history may have been wrong for 70-plus years. In 2015, Matthew Morgan, a consultant on Eastwood’s movie of Iwo Jima, approached Krelle about doing a documentary about the story. Krelle said that if they did the story right, they could put it in front of the Marine Corps History Division and they might take it up to the highest levels and perhaps receive traction.
“The documentary was actually funded by the Smithsonian Channel,” Krelle said. “It came out on Fourth of July weekend in 2016. The coolest part was when Gene Hackman, the narrator, pronounced my name correctly.”
In April of 2016, the Marine Corps received the information and formed a board to dig as thoroughly as possible through the information, to officially confirm everything. On June 23, 2016, General Robert Neller announced that Howard Schultz was the fifth flag raiser, and that John Bradley was not one of the flag raisers. History had officially been re-written.
Krelle said the most interesting thing about the process was the story he was told by Hansen.
“Schultz’s stepdaughter said that after dinner one night, a conversation began about the war,” Krelle said. “Schultz told his stepdaughter that he had a part in the Iwo Jima flag raising. She told him that he was a hero; to which Schultz responded ‘No, I’m just a Marine.’”
Krelle said that the end result of Schultz being recognized is something that he will always hold special to him.
“I was the first person to identify him as a flag raiser, so that’s going to be a special part of my life,” Krelle said. “When my kids get older and visit the memorial in D.C., my kids will be able to stand there, read the correct names on the plaque and go ‘That’s because of our dad.’”
Even without having a ton of national fame and recognition for his work, Krelle said that although he appreciates receiving some recognition, he is just proud of everything that has happened, because of him.
“It took a lot of people to do this,” Krelle said. “The people who raised those flags, who fought at Iwo Jima; but also myself, Mr. Foley and Mr. Hansen to get the story right about all those men on Iwo Jima. For the rest of my life, I might not have another groundbreaking opportunity happen again; it was a lesson to me that, if you have beliefs and you put them forward and are determined to uncover the truth, you can make a difference. Everything I do, hopefully, is to honor them and the sacrifices they made for our country.”
In September of 2015, Krelle received a call from James Bradley, John Bradley’s son. Krelle said that although Bradley was a little upset about his family and his father’s legacy after Krelle’s research made national news, Krelle said that Bradley’s legacy will live forever.
“John Bradley clearly raised the first flag; he was there for all of it,” Krelle said. “He received a Navy Cross for his heroism. His legacy cannot be diminished; him not being one of Rosenthal’s flag raisers really has nothing to do with what he truly did. Bradley’s story will always remain intact.”
An audience member at the presentation told Krelle that ‘For a comment coming from the Marines, to acknowledge a mistake of that multitude and accept your correction; that is recognition.’
The event in Bennington was Krelle’s third presentation ever, and he hopes to continue to tell his story to anyone who is interested, whether it’s for historical societies, schools or other organizations.
