Rene Gagnon
Réne Arthur Gagnon (born March 7, 1925 in Manchester , United States , † October 12, 1979 ) was an American soldier in World War II and was for decades one of the men who appeared in the famous photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima you can see.
Life
Gagnon was born to French Canadians in Manchester, New Hampshire . Before the war he worked as a worker in a shoe factory and as a courier before he was drafted in 1943. He reported to the Marine Corps . Gagnon was trained at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island and was then assigned to a private first class guard at the Charleston Navy Yard before joining the 5th Marine Division as a military policeman. Eventually he joined the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division as a regular soldier. With this unit he was involved in the Battle of Iwojima from February 19, 1945 . On February 23, Gagnon and five other comrades hoisted an American flag on Suribachi volcano . Some marines had already hoisted a flag beforehand, but a photograph by Joe Rosenthal of this very second hoisting soon became well known. On March 28, Gagnon left Iwo Jima to return to the United States. There, as a result of the popularity of the Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima photo , he and two other soldiers, Ira Hayes and John Bradley, were sent on a war bond promotion tour. In September 1945 he was sent to China with the 6th Marine Division for a few months before returning to the USA in April 1946. A little later he was discharged from the armed forces , now with the rank of corporal .
Gagnon then worked at Delta Air Lines ; in 1965 he revisited the battle site on Iwo Jima. The events of the battle are said to have drawn him deeply in retrospect. He died in 1979, leaving behind a wife and a son. Gagnon was first buried in Manchester and then reburied in Arlington National Cemetery in 1981 .
Rene Gagnon's participation in the flag-raising on Iwo Jima was later a. a. featured in the films You Were Our Comrade and Flags of Our Fathers .
It was not until 2016 that the Marine Corps, following advice from amateur historians, corrected in an official statement that instead of Gagnon, Corporal Harold Keller was in the photo. The Corps nevertheless sees Gagnon as an important participant, as he transported the larger flag up and brought the replaced first flag safely back down.
Awards
- Presidential Unit Citation
- China Service Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
- World War II Victory Medal
- Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal
In addition, the Rene Gagnon Monument has been located in Victory Park in Manchester, New Hampshire since 1995, and there is a Rene Gagnon exhibition in the Wright Museum of WWII History in Wolfeboro .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Article by Stars and Stripes
- ^ Article in the Berliner Zeitung
- ↑ Article on Gagnon's grave site
- ↑ Marines correct ID of second man who raised flag at Iwo Jima
- ^ Iwo Jima Memorial on New England Travels
- ↑ Website of the Wright Museum of WWII History ( Memento of the original from July 9, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gagnon, Rene |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gagnon, Rene Arthur |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American soldier of World War II |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 7, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Manchester , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 12, 1979 |
| Place of death | Manchester , United States |