The story of Ira Hayes is a tragically familiar one for combat veterans. It’s about a Native American who went from young Marine to war hero to post traumatic stress to an alcoholic death.
Put it all together and you have a common thread for all wars – young soldiers who sacrifice so much and come home to so little.
The medals, bravery and battlefield comradeship can’t overcome the lack of recognition, appreciation and haunting memories back in the world.
But there was something different and compelling about the story of Ira Hayes. You see, he became a famous war celebrity whose life – and death – would be told and defined in photographs, postage stamps, statues, movies and music.
Pop culture has a tendency to glorify and simplify war heroes – from Sgt. York to Audie Murphy. But there was no happy ending for Ira Hayes, who never fit the mold of All-American boy.
“Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinking Indian
Or the Marine that went to war”
– Johnny Cash, “The Ballad of Ira Hayes”
Here is a video of the song performed by Kris Kristofferson:
Hayes grew up on the Gila River reservation in Arizona, as a Pima Indian. He was considered a “non-citizen.” He joined the Marines at 19, in 1942.
Three years later, in February, 1945, Hayes found himself with the 28th Regiment, 5th Division of the U.S. Marines on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. It was one of World War II’s bloodiest battles, and 6,800 American servicemen were reported killed at Iwo Jima.
On Feb. 23, 1945, Hayes along with five others raised the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi. Joe Rosenthal, a photographer with the Associated Press, was with them.
Rosenthal’s picture of the flag-raising won a Pulitzer Prize.
The photo became famous all over the world. It was used on a postage stamp and helped sell billions in war bonds. Later, the picture would be used as the model for The United States Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) at Arlington National Cemetery.
Ira Hayes was no longer an anonymous young Marine. He was a hero and the government decided to cash in. They brought him home to raise money and sell bonds.
President Truman told Hayes he was a hero who could help his country by selling war bonds. But for Hayes, this “bond tour” was almost as bad as combat.
“It was supposed to be soft duty, but I couldn’t take it,” Hayes was quoted on the Web site iwojima.com. “Everywhere we went people shoved drinks in our hands and said, ‘You’re a Hero!’ We knew we hadn’t done that much but you couldn’t tell them that.”
Hayes never felt like a hero.
“How could I feel like a hero when only five men in my platoon of 45 survived, when only 27 men in my company of 250 managed to escape death or injury?” Three of the men in the flag raising picture were reportedly killed at Iwo Jima.
Things didn’t get much better when Hayes left the service and went to the reservation in Arizona. He wanted to stay out of the spotlight but never escaped the shadow of the flag at Iwo Jima.
“I kept getting hundreds of letters,” Hayes said. “And people would drive through the reservation, walk up to me and ask, ‘Are you the Indian who raised the flag on Iwo Jima?”
Hayes turned to alcohol to comfort the grief over his dead “buddies” and brutal combat memories. He was fighting another battle, without his band of brothers to protect him.
“I was sick. I guess I was about to crack up thinking about all my good buddies. They were better men than me and they’re not coming back. Much less back to the White House, like me.”
Hayes was arrested numerous times for being drunk in public. He tried to change, and John Wayne even used Hayes in a small part for the 1949 movie, “Sands of Iwo Jima.” Hayes played himself in the film but that was a role that this war hero was unable to master.
Hayes’ story was also told in the 1961 movie, “The Outsider,” starring Tony Curtis as Hayes. Curtis gives a surprisingly powerful performance, one of the best dramatic roles of his career. Hayes was also featured in Clint Eastwood’s 2006 film, “Flags of Our Fathers.”
Hayes never wanted such exposure but, near the end of his life, there was one last bittersweet moment of public glory.
It was reported by iwojima.com this way:
“In 1954, Ira reluctantly attended the dedication of the Iwo Jima monument in Washington. After a ceremony where he was lauded by President Eisenhower as a hero once again, a reporter rushed up to Ira and asked him, “How do you like the pomp and circumstances?” Ira just hung his head and said, “I don’t.”
A few months later, on Jan. 24, 1955, Hayes was found dead, lying in a ditch on the Gila River Indian Reservation. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
And so, like so many others who survived combat – but not its aftermath – the war was finally over for Ira Hayes.
