Question: What Texan is pictured in Joe Rosenthal’s iconic World War II photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima?
Answer: Harlon Block. Born in Yorktown, Texas, in 1924, Block joined the Marines in 1943 after graduating from Weslaco High School. He was killed in action six days after raising the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945. Rosenthal’s photograph was the inspiration for the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.
