He carried that absence with him into the Marine Corps and onto the slopes of Suribachi and into the bond tour and back to the reservation, and it was there, that absence, underneath everything else that happened to him.

What He Said That We Should Have Listened To

Across the decade between the war’s end and his death, Ira Hayes gave various interviews, made various public statements, and was quoted in various newspaper articles.

He was not a man who sought attention or who enjoyed the spotlight, which makes what he did say, when he said it, worth attending to carefully.

He talked about the men who died.