Ira Hayes
Ira Hamilton Hayes (* 12. January 1923 in Sacaton , Arizona ; † 24. January 1955 in Bapchule , Arizona) was a Pima - Indians , who in World War II as a soldier of the States United Marine Corps at the Battle of Iwo Jima took part.
Famous Hayes was by the US war photographer Joe Rosenthal shot photo Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima , where he along with five other soldiers the US flag on a mountain of the Japanese island of Iwo Jima hoisted.
Life
Ira Hayes was born on the Gila River Indian Reservation . He left high school on August 24, 1942 and enrolled in the Marine Corps. Hayes was trained as a paratrooper there. He was nicknamed Chief Falling Cloud . Hayes was in the 3rd Paratrooper Battalion of 3rd Marine Division when he was shipped to New Caledonia in March 1943 . His first combat mission was on Bougainville . When he returned to the USA afterwards, his family felt that he was more down to earth and more disciplined than before his military career.
After the Marine Corps' paratrooper associations were disbanded, he joined the 5th Marine Division . This was relocated to Hawaii in September 1944 .
Iwo Jima
On February 19, 1945 he took part in the landing on Iwojima and in the subsequent battle for Iwojima . Four days after the invasion, Mount Suribachi , which dominates the island, was under American control. The flag of the United States was hoisted on the top of the mountain that day . Since this flag was considered too small, another train , including Hayes , boarded the mountain to exchange this flag for a larger one. During the installation of this new flag, war photographer Joe Rosenthal took an image that became one of the most iconic photos of World War II and possibly the most widely reproduced image ever. The picture received the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 and later served as a template. a. for the US Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington .
To Iwojima
Of the six soldiers shown in the photo, only three survived the Battle of Iwojima: Harold Schultz , Rene Gagnon and Hayes. All three were ordered back to the United States and presented to the public as part of war propaganda and a war bond promotion .
After the end of the war, this measure lost its importance and Hayes returned to the Indian reservation from which he came via a detour . He couldn't get along with the fame the six flagraisers possessed practically overnight. He later suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder . As a result, he became alcoholic and was arrested 51 times for being drunk. He hardly spoke a word about hoisting the flag on Mount Suribachi, but he always spoke proudly of his service in the Marine Corps. Hayes was plagued by remorse that his friend Harlon Block , who was in the photo when the flag was raised for the second time, was mistakenly confused with Henry Oliver "Hank" Hansen, who was in a different photo when the flag was first raised. That's why he hitchhiked 2,000 kilometers to the Block's farm to clear up this mistake, to the joy and gratitude of the Block family.
Hayes did not see himself as a hero and scorned his unwanted fame. When a reporter asked him how he liked the pomp and circumstance when he was being honored by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954 in the White House, he replied with bowed head: "Not at all."
death
Ira Hayes was found dead next to an abandoned shack near his home a few days after his 32nd birthday. He was face down in his own vomit and blood. The night before, he had played cards with other men, including his brothers Kenny and Vernon, and a Pima Indian named Henry Setoyant, while drinking alcohol. With Setoyant it should have come to a scuffle, whereupon the card game was abandoned and only Hayes and Setoyant remained. The coroner concluded that Hayes had died from the combination of hypothermia and alcohol. However, his brother Kenny remains convinced that death had something to do with the scuffle. There was no official investigation, however, and Setoyant denied any allegations that he had another fight with Hayes after all the players left.
Ira Hayes was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He is in space 34 on grave 479A. At his funeral, the surviving "flagraiser" Rene Gagnon said the following words:
"Let's say he had a little dream in his heart that one day the Indian would be on an equal footing with the white man - and able to roam freely throughout the United States."
Awards
Ira Hayes was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps with the rank of corporal . He received the following awards:
- American Campaign Medal
- Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
- Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal
- World War II Victory Medal
- Presidential Unit Citation
Theming in songs and films
Years after Hayes' death, his fate became known to the general public through the song The Ballad of Ira Hayes by the Native American folk singer Peter La Farge of the Narraganset tribe . This song was later u. a. also interpreted by Johnny Cash , Bob Dylan , Kris Kristofferson , Pete Seeger , Kinky Friedman and Townes Van Zandt . A German version was published by Volker Lechtenbrink in 1978 , but essential content of the original is missing.
Hayes' life in 1961 under the title The Outsider ( The Outsider filmed) by Delbert Mann, starring played Tony Curtis . The film was shown in Germany in 1962 only in an incomplete version. The last 15 minutes were simply cut away. The film ended with the unveiling of the war memorial and glorifying the hero. His true later fate and death were withheld from the German audience. It was not until 1996 that WDR television showed the complete version with the complete ending. The parts that have now been reinserted were left in their original language and subtitled in German.
The film Flags of Our Fathers portrays the lives of the six soldiers who hoisted the American flag on Iwojima in 1945. Ira Hayes was portrayed in it by Adam Beach .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pulitzer/rosenthal.html
- ↑ James Bradley, Ron Powers: Flags of Our Fathers . Bantam, 2001, ISBN 0-553-38029-X .
- ↑ https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,823714,00.html
- ↑ John Huss, David Werther: The Philosophy at Johnny Cash. John Wiley & Sons Publisher, 2009, ISBN 978-3-52750-401-5 , page 257.
- ↑ Chavers, Dan: Modern American Indian Leaders: Their Lives and Their Work. Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 978-0773455559 , p. 243
- ↑ Markus Kerren: Review on Rocktimes.de
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hayes, Ira |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hayes, Ira Hamilton |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American soldier |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 12, 1923 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sacaton , Arizona |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 24, 1955 |
| Place of death | Bapchule , Arizona |