A longtime reader of SDP alerts me to an article in South Dakota Magazine entitled "Unknown No More: Jack Thurman Takes His Place in Iwo Jima History." The story is about Sgt. Jack Thurman, one of the men who is in Joe Rosenthal's famous Iwo Jima photographs. He grew up on a dairy farm outside Mitchell, South Dakota, and enrolled at the Notre Dame School in Mitchell before volunteering for the Marines as soon as he turned eighteen-years-old (his father refused to sign the necessary paperwork when he was seventeen, saying he needed him on the farm). Last year during the University of Colorado's game against the Missouri Tigers, Thurman served as the honorary captain for the coin toss. Thurman, an architect by trade after his time in the service, helped design several of the buildings on the CU campus.
The South Dakota Magazine articles notes that every man in the photograph below was identified by Rosenthal except Thurman, who simply remained the "unknown" -- and remained unknown for fifty-five years. Thurman served with the Marine Corps 5th Division, 27th Regiment, but volunteered to help the 28th Regiment secure Mount Suribachi in 1945. He's currently working on a memoir of his military career, which I will anxiously keep an eye out for. Since I don't think I can legally reprint or redistribute a copy of the article, be sure to check out the March/April 2008 edition of South Dakota Magazine.
Thurman is on the far left of the photograph, waving his cap. Just in front of Thurman sits Ira Hayes. John Bradley, Franklin Sousey, and Mike Strank -- three others who appeared in the Iwo Jima flag-raising photo -- are also pictured here. Check out James Bradley's Flags of our Fathers for a personal look at the men involved in the flag raising. Bradley's book was later adopted for screenplay by Clint Eastwood, which I'm sure many of your saw.
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