Скачать или смотреть The Private Who Raised the Flag at Iwo Jima and Died Broke at Age 32

He raised the most famous flag in American history. Ten years later, he died alone in a ditch. This is the true story of Ira Hayes.

Private First Class Ira Hayes was one of six Marines who raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. Photographer Joe Rosenthal captured the moment in what became the most reproduced photograph of World War II. Three of the six flag raisers died in combat. The three survivors—Hayes, Rene Gagnon, and John Bradley—returned home as national heroes for the Seventh War Bond Drive.

But Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian from Arizona's Gila River Reservation, struggled with survivor's guilt and unwanted fame. Between 1946 and 1955, he was arrested over 50 times for public intoxication. He lived in poverty despite his celebrity. On January 24, 1955, at age 32, Hayes died of exposure in an irrigation ditch on the same reservation where he was born.

This documentary uses only verified sources: Marine Corps service records, National Archives documentation, Bureau of Indian Affairs files, autopsy reports, and contemporary newspaper accounts. Every fact is documented. No speculation. No dramatization. Just the truth about the man behind the most iconic image of the Pacific War.

From the volcanic slopes of Iwo Jima to the war bond tour that made him uncomfortable, to his tragic death at 32—this is the complete documented history of the Pima Marine who became a symbol he never asked to be.