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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Last Marine in Iwo Jima photo dies at 82 |
| 2008-02-05 |
| Raymond Jacobs, believed to be the last surviving member of the group of Marines photographed during the original U.S. flag-raising on Iwo Jima during World War II, has died at age 82. Jacobs died Jan. 29 of natural causes at a Redding hospital, his daughter, Nancy Jacobs, told The Associated Press. Jacobs had spent his later years working to prove that he was the radio operator photographed looking up at an American flag as it was being raised by other Marines on Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945. Newspaper accounts from the time show he was on the mountain during the initial raising of a smaller American flag, though he had returned to his unit by the time the more famous AP photograph was taken of a second flag-raising later the same day. The radioman's face isn't fully visible in the first photograph taken of the first flag-raising by Lou Lowery, a photographer for Leatherneck magazine, leading some veterans to question Jacobs' claim. However, other negatives from the same roll of film show the radioman is Jacobs, said retired Col. Walt Ford, editor of Leatherneck. "It's clearly a front-on face shot of Ray Jacobs," Ford said. Annette Amerman, a historian with the Marine Corps History Division, said in an e-mailed statement "there are many that believe" Jacobs was the radioman. "However, there are no official records produced at the time that can prove or refute Mr. Jacobs' location." Jacobs was honorably discharged in 1946. He was called up during the Korean conflict in 1951 before retiring as a sergeant, his daughter said. Jacobs retired in 1992 from KTVU-TV in Oakland, where he worked 34 years as a reporter, anchor and news director. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #2 The last First Flag raiser, Chuck Lindberg of Minnesota passed away just last year. Lindberg's service and legacy as the last living flagraiser was the subject of an award-winning WCCO-TV documentary in 2005. What men were these... |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2008-02-05 15:24 |
| #1 Rest in peace. |
| Posted by: Korora 2008-02-05 12:54 |