all Rights Reserved ©
Third Reich Life & War, World History
Lot 1220:
World War Il
TLS December 29, 1943
File Miscellaneous
World War I (abbreviated WWII), or the Second World War, was a worldwide conflict fought between the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers, from 1939 until 1945. Armed forces from over seventy nations engaged in aerial, naval and ground-based combat. Spanning much of the globe, World War II resulted in the deaths of over 62 million people, making it the deadliest conflict in human history. The war ended with an Allied victory.
Rene Gagnon Iwo Jima flag raiser, WWII signed letter proposing marriage!
Rene Gagnon Iwo Jima flag raiser, WWII signed letter proposing marriage!
Single page typed letter, 5; × 8; with strips of clear tape in rows across the letter. Dated ;Dec 29, 1943;, and signed in type by Gagnon as ;Rene;. With humorous WWII envelope hand-addressed, and signed in type by Gagnon
Gagnon was one of the six soldiers pictured in ;Raising The Flag on Iwo Jima;, arguably the most famous photograph of all time. In the autograph letter signed, Gagnon writes to girlfriend Pauline Harnois on 29 December 1943, while guarding the Naval Prison Camp in Charleston, South Carolina, expressing his desire to get home so he can marry her: ; I’m coming home in a couple of weeks little darling now what do you suppose your father would say if I brought you a ring and you know what kind I mean.. so why not in January when I come home on furlough, if you still don’t know what I’m talking about, I mean an engagement ring…; Signed in type, ;Love as Ever Rene;
Written only a few years before the famous flag raising at IWO Jima. On February 23, Bradley and Navy corpsman, PhM2c. Gerald Ziehme (replaced PhM3c. Langley who was wounded in action on February 21), were part of the 40-man combat patrol (mostly from Third Platoon, Easy Company) were sent to climb up the east slope of Mount Suribachi to seize and occupy the crest and to raise an American flag to signal that the mountaintop was captured. On top, the Marines found a steel pipe to attach the flag unto. The flagstaff was taken to the highest position on the crater. Seeing the raising of the national colorsimmediately caused loud cheering from the Marines, sailors, and Coast Guardsmen on the beach below and from the men on the ships near the beach. After the flag was raised, Bradley, who was with the group of Marines near the flagstaff, pitched in to help the flagstaff stay vertical in the terrific winds on the volcano.
Rene Gagnon is best known for being one of the six flag-raisers who helped raise the second U.S. flag at IWO
Jima; which was the one memorialized by the Pulitzer prize winning photo, and initiated using a larger flag in order for the American flag to be seen more easily from the ships, beaches, and land off and around Mount Suribachi. Marine Sgt. Michael Strank was ordered to ascend Mount Suribachi with Marines from his squad and raise the replacement flag and return with the first flag that was flying on top.
The IWO Jima flag raising was a moment of enormous historical importance. Of the six men who participated in the raising of the flag, three were killed in action and died over the next few days and did not come back.
Share this lot:
all Rights Reserved ©