Harold Keller

Harold Paul Keller (August 3, 1921 – March 13, 1979) was a United States Marine corporal who was wounded in action during the Bougainville campaign in World War II. During the Battle of Iwo Jima, he was a member of the patrol that captured the top of Mount Suribachi and raised the first U.S. flag on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. He is one of the six Marines who raised the larger replacement flag on the mountaintop the same day as shown in the iconic photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. The first flag flown over Mount Suribachi at the south end of Iwo Jima was regarded to be too small to be seen by the thousands of Marines fighting on the other side of the mountain, so it was replaced by the second one. Although there were photographs taken of the first flag flying on Mount Suribachi, there is no photograph of Marines raising the first flag. The second flag raising became famous and took precedence over the first flag-raising after copies of the second flag-raising photograph appeared in newspapers two days later. The second flag raising was also filmed in color. Keller was not recognized as one of the second flag-raisers until the Marine Corps announced on October 16, 2019, after an investigation, that he was in the historic photograph taken by combat photographer Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press. The Marine Corps also stated that Keller was incorrectly identified as Private First Class Rene Gagnon in the photograph, who they determined is not in the photo. Keller is one of three Marines in the photograph who were not originally identified as flag raisers. The Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, is modeled after the photograph of six Marines raising the second flag on Iwo...