Editor's note: Today's column is the second in a series by John Waelti on the American Atomic Veterans.
The conquest of Iwo Jima cost the lives of nearly 7,000 Marine and Navy personnel. With the island secured, American fighter planes could now escort B-29 bombers to Japan. Damaged bombers had a place to land on return runs to the Marianas. Within the first 90 days alone, 850 damaged B-29s landed on Iwo, saving the lives of 9,000 airmen.
Invasion of Okinawa, a mere 300 miles from Japan, would provide a base of operations for the final invasion of Japan. If tenacity with which the Japanese defended Iwo were any indication of future defense of their homeland, the casualties yet to come would be staggering.
For now let us continue with the aftermath of Iwo, the Rosenthal photo, its phenomenal effect on American culture, and legacy of triumph and tragedy.
Fast forward to 1949. Hollywood's Republic Studios was known as a factory for low budget "B Westerns." Gene Autry, until he signed with Columbia, Rod Cameron, Rocky Lane, and King of the Cowboys Roy Rogers were Republic stars. Another "B western cowboy," Marion Morrison from Winterset, Iowa, was under contract with Republic who changed his name to John Wayne.
Republic producer Edmund Grainger had once seen the phrase, "sands of Iwo Jima," in a newspaper. In the context of Joe Rosenthal's famous photo, he found the words evocative. With the aid of screenwriter Harry Brown, screenplay for "Sands of Iwo Jima" was created.
The story line is of a tough Marine buck sergeant, John Stryker, whose marriage had failed, was estranged from his son, and pursued by private demons. But he is a good Marine, the prototype tough sergeant who leads a squad of raw Marines. Producer Grainger held that this movie portrayed the heroism of average guys as they adjusted from civilian to military life.
An established star, Kirk Douglas, was originally intended for the role of Sgt. Stryker. During negotiations with Douglas's agent, John Wayne somehow got hold of the script, was fascinated by it, and desperately wanted the role of Stryker.
What? Republic's first "prestige picture," the most expensive in Republic's history - entrusted to a "B movie cowboy" with the lead? Republic's head would have none of that. But Wayne desperately wanted that role, persisted, and got the part. Adele Mara got the female lead. John Agar and Forrest Tucker - "Ten thousand sergeants in this lash up, and I gotta end up with Stryker "- co-starred as members of Stryker's squad.
Any fears Republic had of casting a "B movie cowboy" as the lead proved unfounded. John Wayne received his first nomination for an Academy Award. "Sands of Iwo Jima" was probably the single most significant step in propelling him to super-stardom.
The Marine Corps rendered full cooperation with filming the movie, furnishing location, extras, tanks, jeeps, planes, and landing craft. Veterans of the Tarawa campaign, including Col. David Shoup who would later become Commandant of the Marine Corps, and Lt. Col. James Crowe rendered technical assistance. Marine Cpt. Leonard Fribourg was named chief technical advisor.
Cpt. Fribourg purged the script of its most egregious inaccuracies, but was occasionally overruled. In one scene, Sgt. Stryker lives up to his name when during a training session he strikes a private on the jaw with the butt of an M-1 rifle. While I have personally seen - and experienced - some rather bazaar incidents in boot camp, cracking a guy on the jaw with an M-1 - without injury, no less - was not credible, even by Marine training practices.
Apparently Captain Fribourg thought it implausible, as he wanted that scene purged from the script. He was overruled by Marine Headquarters and, with the connivance of John Wayne, that scene remains in the final footage.
As one would expect, "Sands of Iwo Jima" features the flag raising as photographed by Rosenthal. The three surviving members of the flag raising and the 7th War Bond tour, John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, and Ira Hayes, were invited to play minor roles in the movie. Lt. - now Captain - Schrier, who led the patrol up Suribachi for the first flag raising, also had a bit part.
Bradley was by 1949 successfully reinstated in civilian life, a licensed mortician in Antigo, Wis., with a house, a mortgage, and two kids. Gagnon now had a wife and a son and hoped to be a commercial airline pilot.
And Ira Hayes? No wife, no kids, no house, no mortgage, no dreams - continued drinking bouts. He was still haunted by his nightmarish experiences in the 7th War Bond drive. Hayes was originally slated for a speaking part. It was denied when he showed up "dazed and staggering with liquor on his breath."
December 1949, the movie premiered in San Francisco with much fanfare, accompanied by the real combat Marines, Shoup, Crowe, and Schrier. Gen. Keller Rockey, Commander of the 5th Marine Division on Iwo, photographer Rosenthal, and John Wayne in person added pizzazz. Next was the premier in San Diego, headlined by Iwo veteran and Commander of Camp Pendleton, General Graves P. Erskine. Then New York, and in January 1950, Washington, D.C.
Flag-raisers, Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes were invited to Washington to see their reenactment on film of what they did in real life some five years earlier. The three, especially Bradley and Hayes, were still uncomfortable in the spotlight as they answered reporters' questions on life in peacetime Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Arizona.
Hayes continued to speak of memories and guilt - going on to continued drinking bouts and subsequent arrests. To quote one author, "When Sgt. Stryker drank, it was just a movie; John Wayne got a cash bonus for a stellar performance. When Ira Hayes drank, he landed in the Phoenix jail."
The dramatic legacy of Iwo Jima was not over.
To be continued:
- Monroe resident John Waelti can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
The conquest of Iwo Jima cost the lives of nearly 7,000 Marine and Navy personnel. With the island secured, American fighter planes could now escort B-29 bombers to Japan. Damaged bombers had a place to land on return runs to the Marianas. Within the first 90 days alone, 850 damaged B-29s landed on Iwo, saving the lives of 9,000 airmen.
Invasion of Okinawa, a mere 300 miles from Japan, would provide a base of operations for the final invasion of Japan. If tenacity with which the Japanese defended Iwo were any indication of future defense of their homeland, the casualties yet to come would be staggering.
For now let us continue with the aftermath of Iwo, the Rosenthal photo, its phenomenal effect on American culture, and legacy of triumph and tragedy.
Fast forward to 1949. Hollywood's Republic Studios was known as a factory for low budget "B Westerns." Gene Autry, until he signed with Columbia, Rod Cameron, Rocky Lane, and King of the Cowboys Roy Rogers were Republic stars. Another "B western cowboy," Marion Morrison from Winterset, Iowa, was under contract with Republic who changed his name to John Wayne.
Republic producer Edmund Grainger had once seen the phrase, "sands of Iwo Jima," in a newspaper. In the context of Joe Rosenthal's famous photo, he found the words evocative. With the aid of screenwriter Harry Brown, screenplay for "Sands of Iwo Jima" was created.
The story line is of a tough Marine buck sergeant, John Stryker, whose marriage had failed, was estranged from his son, and pursued by private demons. But he is a good Marine, the prototype tough sergeant who leads a squad of raw Marines. Producer Grainger held that this movie portrayed the heroism of average guys as they adjusted from civilian to military life.
An established star, Kirk Douglas, was originally intended for the role of Sgt. Stryker. During negotiations with Douglas's agent, John Wayne somehow got hold of the script, was fascinated by it, and desperately wanted the role of Stryker.
What? Republic's first "prestige picture," the most expensive in Republic's history - entrusted to a "B movie cowboy" with the lead? Republic's head would have none of that. But Wayne desperately wanted that role, persisted, and got the part. Adele Mara got the female lead. John Agar and Forrest Tucker - "Ten thousand sergeants in this lash up, and I gotta end up with Stryker "- co-starred as members of Stryker's squad.
Any fears Republic had of casting a "B movie cowboy" as the lead proved unfounded. John Wayne received his first nomination for an Academy Award. "Sands of Iwo Jima" was probably the single most significant step in propelling him to super-stardom.
The Marine Corps rendered full cooperation with filming the movie, furnishing location, extras, tanks, jeeps, planes, and landing craft. Veterans of the Tarawa campaign, including Col. David Shoup who would later become Commandant of the Marine Corps, and Lt. Col. James Crowe rendered technical assistance. Marine Cpt. Leonard Fribourg was named chief technical advisor.
Cpt. Fribourg purged the script of its most egregious inaccuracies, but was occasionally overruled. In one scene, Sgt. Stryker lives up to his name when during a training session he strikes a private on the jaw with the butt of an M-1 rifle. While I have personally seen - and experienced - some rather bazaar incidents in boot camp, cracking a guy on the jaw with an M-1 - without injury, no less - was not credible, even by Marine training practices.
Apparently Captain Fribourg thought it implausible, as he wanted that scene purged from the script. He was overruled by Marine Headquarters and, with the connivance of John Wayne, that scene remains in the final footage.
As one would expect, "Sands of Iwo Jima" features the flag raising as photographed by Rosenthal. The three surviving members of the flag raising and the 7th War Bond tour, John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, and Ira Hayes, were invited to play minor roles in the movie. Lt. - now Captain - Schrier, who led the patrol up Suribachi for the first flag raising, also had a bit part.
Bradley was by 1949 successfully reinstated in civilian life, a licensed mortician in Antigo, Wis., with a house, a mortgage, and two kids. Gagnon now had a wife and a son and hoped to be a commercial airline pilot.
And Ira Hayes? No wife, no kids, no house, no mortgage, no dreams - continued drinking bouts. He was still haunted by his nightmarish experiences in the 7th War Bond drive. Hayes was originally slated for a speaking part. It was denied when he showed up "dazed and staggering with liquor on his breath."
December 1949, the movie premiered in San Francisco with much fanfare, accompanied by the real combat Marines, Shoup, Crowe, and Schrier. Gen. Keller Rockey, Commander of the 5th Marine Division on Iwo, photographer Rosenthal, and John Wayne in person added pizzazz. Next was the premier in San Diego, headlined by Iwo veteran and Commander of Camp Pendleton, General Graves P. Erskine. Then New York, and in January 1950, Washington, D.C.
Flag-raisers, Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes were invited to Washington to see their reenactment on film of what they did in real life some five years earlier. The three, especially Bradley and Hayes, were still uncomfortable in the spotlight as they answered reporters' questions on life in peacetime Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Arizona.
Hayes continued to speak of memories and guilt - going on to continued drinking bouts and subsequent arrests. To quote one author, "When Sgt. Stryker drank, it was just a movie; John Wayne got a cash bonus for a stellar performance. When Ira Hayes drank, he landed in the Phoenix jail."
The dramatic legacy of Iwo Jima was not over.
To be continued:
- Monroe resident John Waelti can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
