Question: Which 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 inspired the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.
