<P> President Franklin D. Roosevelt, upon seeing Joe Rosenthal's flag - raising photograph, realized the image would make an excellent symbol for the upcoming Seventh War Loan Drive to help pay for the war, and ordered the flag - raisers identified and sent to Washington, D.C. after the fighting on the island ended (March 26, 1945). Using a photographic enlargement, Rene Gagnon identified four other flag - raisers in the photograph besides himself, but refused to identify Ira Hayes as the sixth flag - raiser because Hayes warned him not to . Gagnon revealed Hayes' name only after being brought to Marine Corps headquarters and informed that he was being ordered by the President to reveal the information and that refusing would be a serious crime . </P> <P> President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945 . The three surviving second flag - raisers, identified then as Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes, met President Truman on April 20 at the White House before going on the bond tour which began on May 11 in New York City; Hayes had drinking problems during the tour and was ordered back to his former combat unit in Hawaii on May 24 before the tour ended on July 4 in Washington, D.C. The bond drive was a success, raising $26.3 billion, twice the tour's goal . </P> <P> Gagnon misidentified Corporal Harlon Block as Sergeant Henry O. "Hank" Hansen in Rosenthal's photo (both were killed in action on March 1). Initially, Bradley concurred with all of Gagnon's identifications . On April 8, 1945, the Marine Corps released the identification of five of the six flag raisers including Hansen rather than Block--Sousley's identity was temporarily withheld pending notification of his family of his death during the battle . Block's mother, Belle Block, refused to accept the official identification, noting that she had "changed so many diapers on that boy's butt, I know it's my boy ." Immediately upon his arrival in Washington, D.C. on April 19, Hayes noticed the incorrect identification in the photograph . When he was interviewed about the identities in the photo by the Marine colonel assigned to the flag - raisers and told him that it was definitely Harlon Block and not Hansen in the photograph, the public relations officer then told Hayes that the identifications had already been officially released, and ordered Hayes to keep silent about it (during the investigation, the colonel denied Hayes told him about Block). Block, Sousley, and Hayes were close friends in the same squad of Second Platoon, E Company, while Hansen, who helped raise the first flag, was a member of Third Platoon, E Company . </P> <P> In 1946, Hayes hitchhiked to Texas and informed Harlon Block's father and mother that Harlon had, in fact, been one of the six flag raisers . Block's mother, Belle, immediately sent a letter that Hayes gave her explaining the error to her congressional representative Milton West . West, in turn, forwarded the letter to Marine Corps Commandant Alexander Vandegrift, who ordered an investigation . John Bradley (formerly in Third Platoon with Hansen), upon being shown the evidence (Hansen, a former Paramarine, wore his large parachutist boots in an exposed manner on Iwo Jima), agreed that it was probably Block and not Hansen . In January 1947, the Marine Corps officially concluded and announced it was Block in the photo and not Hansen . </P>

Photo of marines raising the flag on iwo jima