Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508140011
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV19 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
What isn't widely known is that the oft-depicted flag-raising was a re-enactment. No cameramen were present the first time - but a Blacksburg native was.
Harvey Harmon was part of the first squad to carry the flag up Mount Suribachi and plant it in full view of friend and foe.
Roy Jennelle of Blacksburg, an old friend, says Harmon recounted the incident to him when both were safely home after the war.
Harmon was in the first combat patrol to reach the summit of the extinct volcano.
The last surviving member of that patrol, Charles Lindberg of Minnesota, recalled in a 1990 interview, "We carried the flag to the highest point and raised it. It was really a proud moment."
The moment was so stirring that another group of Marines raised the flag again later for the cameras - creating a symbol of fortitude and defiance that was incorporated into the statue that stands today near Arlington National Cemetery.
Jennelle heard Harmon moved to Richmond and was killed within the past few years in an automobile accident, taking his version of this historic moment with him.
"I have no reason to believe that he would not have told me the truth," Jennelle says.
by CNB