Harlon Block

Harlon Henry Block (November 6, 1924 • March 1, 1945) was a United States Marine during World War II. Born in Texas, Block joined the Marine Corps in November 1943 and subsequently saw action during the Battle of Bougainville and the Battle of Iwo Jima where he was killed in action. He is best known as one of the six men photographed raising the flag on Iwo Jima.

Early life

Block was born in Yorktown, Texas, the third eldest of the five sons and one daughter born to Edward Frederick Block and Ada Belle, a Seventh day-Adventist family.^[1][2] In hopes of improving the family farming fortunes, the Block family moved to Weslaco, a small town located in the Rio Grande Valley. The family became dairy farmers, and the children attended a Seventh-day Adventist school. Harlon Block was expelled in his freshman year when he refused to tell the principal which student had vandalised a school building. Block then transferred to Weslaco High School in Weslaco, and remembered as an outgoing student with many friends. A natural athlete, Block led the Weslaco Panther Football Team to the Conference Championship. He was honored as "All South Texas End."

Military service

Block and twelve of his teammates enlisted in the Marine Corps through the Selective Service System at San Antonio on February 18, 1943. After basic training in San Diego, he took parachute training and qualifying as a Paramarine, and was promoted to Private First Class on May 22, 1943.

He was served in the Pacific Theatre, and arrived at New Caledonia on November 15, 1943, where he participated with the Headquarters and Service Company of the 1st Marine Parachute Regiment, I Marine Amphibious Corps. He served in the Bougainville Campaign after landing there on December 21. He returned to San Diego, due to the Marine Parachute Regiment disbanding on February 29, 1944. He joined Company E, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, and was promoted Corporal on October 27, 1944.

The Battle of Iwo Jima

Block landed on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945, and was involved in the second flag-raising on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945. As a corporal, he was second-in-command of his squadron to Sergeant Michael Strank at Iwo Jima. He idolized Strank, and as written in the book Flags of Our Fathers, followed Strank without question. Block assumed leadership of his squadron when Sergeant Strank was killed, however Block was also killed by a mortar blast just hours later on the same day, March 1, as the squadron attacked toward Nishi Ridge. His last words were "They killed me!"

Corporal Block was awarded the following decorations and awards:

• Purple Heart (awarded posthumously);
• Presidential Unit Citation with one star (for Iwo Jima),
• American Campaign Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two stars (for the Consolidation of the Northern Solomons and Iwo Jima),
• World War II Victory Medal.

Flag raising controversy

In the battle aftermath, controversy arose as to the identity of the Marine whom planted the flag in the famous photograph of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima. When his mother first viewed Joe Rosenthal's iconic flag raising photograph in the Weslaco newspaper on February 25, just two days after the photo was taken, she immediately exclaimed, "That's Harlon", pointing to the figure on the far right. However, Rene Gagnon mistakenly identified the figure as Sergeant Hank Hansen of Boston, another Paramarine who was involved in the first flag-raising earlier that day, but who was not included in the famous photograph. John Bradley concurred with Gagnon at that time.

Block's mother never wavered in her belief that it was Harlon insisting, "I know my boy", yet no one believed her. Some eighteen months later, a Congressional investigation revealed that it was indeed Block and not Hansen in the photograph. Fellow Paramarine Ira Hayes was instrumental in proving Block's involvement in the famous photograph, and in the end, both Gagnon and Bradley agreed that "it could be Block." In fact, Hayes had told Marine officials that the sixth flag raiser was Block, but since the Marines had already made announcements that Hansen had been identified, he was told not to make waves.^[3]

Block was originally buried in the 5th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima, and then re-interred in Weslaco in January 1949. His body was moved in 1995 to a burial place near to the Iwo Jima Monument in Harlingen, Texas, near the Marine Military Academy.^[4]

Portrayal in film

Harlon Block is featured in the 2006 Clint Eastwood film Flags of Our Fathers, and was portrayed by American actor Benjamin Walker. His parents are portrayed by Christopher Curry and Judith Ivey. The film is based on the book of the same title.

See also

• Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
• Flags of Our Fathers
• Shadow of Suribachi: Raising The Flags on Iwo Jima
• Meliton Kantaria - Soviet flag raiser over the Reichstag in Berlin, 1945
• Mikhail Yegorov - Soviet flag raiser over the Reichstag in Berlin, 1945

References

1. ^ Biograph from the Handbook of Texas Online.
2. ^ Who's Who in Marine Corps History
3. ^ Bradley, James. Flags of Our Fathers. p.417
4. ^ Photograph and grave from findagrave.com.

Categories: 1924 births | 1945 deaths | American military personnel killed in World War II | People from Yorktown, Texas | United States Marines | Battle of Iwo Jima | Recipients of the Purple Heart medal