Harlon H Block
| Harlon H. Block | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 6, 1924 Yorktown, Texas |
| Died | March 1, 1945 Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands |
| Status | KIA |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | United States Marine Corps |
| Years of service | 1943–1945 |
| Rank | Corporal |
| Service number | |
| Unit | Company E, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division |
| Commands held | |
| Battles / wars | Battle of Iwo Jima |
| Awards | Purple Heart |
| Relations | |
| Later work | |
Harlon Henry Block (November 6, 1924 – March 1, 1945) was a United States Marine and one of the six men who raised the second U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945, the moment captured in Joe Rosenthal's iconic photograph.
Born in Yorktown, Texas, Block enlisted in the Marine Corps in February 1943 with several high-school football teammates and became a Paramarine, seeing combat at Bougainville before transferring to Company E, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines.
Flag raising on Mount Suribachi
[edit]Block is the figure at the base of the flagstaff in Rosenthal's photograph. He was originally misidentified: the Marine Corps had named Sgt. Henry "Hank" Hansen as that figure until January 1947, when — after Block's mother insisted from the first that it was her son — it announced that Block, not Hansen, was in the photograph.
Legacy
[edit]Block was killed by mortar fire on March 1, 1945, the same day as his squad leader Sgt. Michael Strank. He was later reinterred at the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, Texas, beside the academy's bronze re-creation of the flag-raising statue.