The Native Marine In America’s Most Famous WWII Photograph – And What Happened After He Came Home

Bradley died in 1994.

These were the men Ira Hayes raised the flag with.

Three of them were dead within a month.

One survived the war but struggled afterward.

One rebuilt a quieter life in the Midwest.

And Hayes came home to Arizona and the Gila River reservation, carrying all of them.

When he said the real heroes were the men who didn’t come home, these were the names he was speaking.

Strank and Block and Sousley.