Harlon block biography of martin
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The eighteen-year-old enlisted in the Marines in 1943.
After boot camp in San Diego, he completed Parachute Training School and was quickly promoted to private first class. During the following investigation, Hayes's written statements and letter to Mrs. Block in September 1945, were instrumental in proving Harlon Block was in the famous photograph and Hansen was not (Hayes, and Hansen who wore parachutist boots on Suribachi...
She never wavered in her belief that it was Harlon in the photo, insisting, "I know my boy."
On March 27, 1945, the 28th Marines departed Iwo Jima for Hawaii. It was there that Harlon and five other Marines were immortalized in the famous Associated Press photo by Joe Rosenthal on Feb. 23, 1945.
A smaller flag was raised earlier that day by Sergeant Henry Hansen, Platoon Sergeant Eugene Thomas, Corpsman John Bradley, Private Philip Ward, Private James Michels and Corporal Chuck Lindberg; however, the heroic image of Harlon and his five comrades raising the larger American flag at Mt.
Suribachi is perhaps the most iconic photograph from the war.
Harlon took command of the squad and continued to fight to the northern and western end of the island after his squad leader, Sergeant Blank, was killed in action on March 1. Block was originally buried in the 5th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima in 1945.
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Harlon, too, was killed later that day by mortar fire near the Nishi Bridge.For his service, Harlon was awarded the following decorations and medals: Purple Heart (posthumously), Presidential Unit Citation with one star (for Iwo Jima), Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two stars (for the Consolidation of the Northern Solomons and Iwo Jima), American Campaign medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.
Today, Harlon is interred in the Rio Grande Valley adjacent to the Iwo Jima Monument located in Harlingen, Texas.
We honor his service and sacrifice.
Contributors
Editor: Jenna Robles
Fact checker: Joe Trivette
Harlon Block
Block was born in Yorktown, Texas, the third of six children to Edward Frederick Block and Ada Belle Brantley, a Seventh day-Adventist family.
Two of the three surviving flag-raisers depicted on the monument, Ira Hayes and Rene Gagnon, were seated together with John Bradley (he was incorrectly identified as a surviving flag-raiser) in the front rows of seats along with relatives of those who were killed in action on the island. colonel later claimed Hayes never mentioned Block's name to him).
In 1946, after Hayes was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps (December 1945), he visited Mr.
Block at his home and told him Harlon was in the photograph. In January 1949, Block's remains was re-interred in Weslaco, Texas. Just days later, on March 1 Harlon was killed in combat while fighting on Iwo Jima. He was especially unruly toward one of his principals.
Pfc. Rene Gagnon, the Easy Company runner (messenger), was ordered to take the flag up and return with the first flag.
Once on top, Strank told Hayes and Sousley to find a pipe to be used for a flagpole to tie the flag on. On April 14, Block began parachute training at the Marine Parachute Training School in San Diego, and on May 22, he qualified as a Paramarine and was promoted to private first class.
His father then enrolled him into Weslaco High School where he became a star player on the championship football team.
Harlon worked on the farm and in the oil field after graduation.
The second raising was immortalized forever by the black and white photo of the flag raising by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press. Block is depicted as the first bronze statue at the bottom of the flagstaff with the 32 foot (9.8 m) bronze statues of the other five flag-raisers on the monument (as of June 23, 2016, Franklin Sousley is depicted as the third bronze statue from the bottom of the flagstaff and Harold Schultz is depicted as the fifth statue from the bottom of the flagstaff).
President Dwight D.
Eisenhower sat upfront with Vice PresidentRichard Nixon, Deputy Secretary of DefenseRobert Anderson, and General Lemuel C. Shepherd, the 20th Commandant of the Marine Corps during the dedication ceremony. As a private in the Marines Harlon went to paratroop training and qualified to be a Paramarine. He arrived at New Caledonia on November 15, where he served as a member of Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Marine Parachute Regiment, I Marine Amphibious Corps.
He was promoted to corporal on October 27, 1944.
On February 19, 1945, Block landed with the Second Battalion, 28th Marines who were nearest to Mount Suribachi at the southern end of Iwo Jima which was the battalion's objective, and fought in the battle for the capture of the island. On Feb. 19, 1945, Harlon and his platoon were a part of the invasion of Iwo Jima.
The Battle of Iwo Jima would be his last.
Harlon and his squad stormed onto shore along with thousands of other Marines, Navy Corpsmen and Seabees.
The investigation which began in December and concluded in January 1947, found that it was indeed Block and not Hansen in the picture, and that no blame was to be placed on anyone in this matter.
The Marine Corps War Memorial (also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial) in Arlington, Virginia which was inspired by Rosenthal's photograph of the second flag raising on Mount Suribachi was dedicated on November 10, 1954.
On February 19, 1945 Harlon landed on Iwo Jima and was part of the 28th Marines charged with capturing Mount Suribachi. This flag-raising was also filmed in color by Sergeant Bill Genaust who was killed in action on March 4. In hopes of improving the family, the Block family relocated to Weslaco, Texas, a city located in the Rio Grande Valley.