The man who deserves, at this distance, to be seen whole.

The Men He Raised The Flag With

To understand what Iwo Jima cost Ira Hayes, it helps to understand the men who were standing next to him when Rosenthal pressed the shutter.

Sergeant Michael Strank was twenty-four years old, a Czech immigrant’s son from Franklin Borough, Pennsylvania, who had enlisted in the Marines before Pearl Harbor.

He was the senior man in the group — the one who, by various accounts, gave the quiet command that set the flag raising in motion.

The men who served under him described Strank as someone who put his Marines first, the kind of sergeant who placed himself between danger and his men when he could.