Ira Hayes

Ira Hayes (January 12, 1923 ? January 24, 1955) was a Native American hero of World War II's Battle of Iwo Jima.

Post World-War II

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After the war, Hayes attempted to lead an anonymous life. But it didn't turn out that way. "I kept getting hundreds of letters. And people would drive through the reservation, walk up to me and ask, 'Are you the Indian who raised the flag on Iwo Jima'?"

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Referring to his drinking he once said: "I was sick. I guess I was about to crack up thinking about all my good buddies. They were better men than me and they're not coming back. Much less back to the White House, like me." After the war, Hayes accumulated some fifty arrests for drunkenness.

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In 1954, after a ceremony where he was lauded by President Eisenhower as a hero, a reporter rushed up to him and asked him, "How do you like the pomp & circumstances?" Hayes just hung his head and said, "I don't."

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On January 24, 1955, Ira Hayes was found dead near an abandoned hut close to his home on the Gila River Indian Reservation. He had been drinking and playing cards with several other men, including his brothers Kenny and Vernon, and another fellow Pima named Henry Setoyant. The coroner concluded that Ira's death was due to exposure and too much alcohol. However, Ira's brother Kenny remained convinced that Ira's death somehow resulted from a scuffle with Setoyant. Ira was 32.

Related Topics:
January 24 - 1955

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He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. At the funeral, fellow flag-raiser Rene Gagnon said of Ira: "Let's say he had a little dream in his heart that someday the Indian would be like the white man--be able to walk all over the United States."

Related Topics:
Arlington National Cemetery - Rene Gagnon

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