Ira Hayes

[W. Gray]

Ira Hamilton Hayes, along with the other two surviving Iwo Jima flag raisers, were bit actors in the 1949 John Wayne flick, Sands of Iwo Jima.

There is no indication that Ira Hayes drank before entering the Marines or while in the Marines except for the Bond Drive that he and the other two survivors went on in early 1945. Apparently, he could not handle the publicity and began drinking.

After the war, Ira was always getting drunk and blamed it on the continuing publicity. In the early 50s, while idled on the reservation International Harvester in Chicago offered him a job.

He kept getting drunk. I-H at first looked the other way when he did not report to work. They considered him a hero and cut him some slack. However, when he had to serve a 17-day jail sentence they let him go.

The Chicago Sun-Times established a rehabilitation fund in his name and a lottery was created to have someone rehabilitate him.

The winner of the lottery was Elizabeth Ann Martin, estranged wife of Dean Martin. He was brought to Hollywood to chauffeur and bodyguard her four children. He lived in the home and had the best food, the best clothes, and the best living conditions.

However, he kept getting drunk. She gave up on him and gave him bus fare to the Pima reservation.

In November 1954, he was present at the dedication in Washington, D.C. of the Marine Corps bronze statue commemorating the Iwo Jima flag raising.

Three months later, he was found dead on the reservation. He had been drinking and died from exposure. He was walking and on his way home after dark but apparently became disoriented.

He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He was 31 and never married.

When watching Flags of our Fathers, I have wondered how true the incident was showing a charging Japanese Banzai attacker literally running into Ira's bayonet. Turns out it was true but happened on another island prior to the invasion of Iwo Jima.

[twirldoggy]

Thiis is a facinating story.   It sounds like the underlying idea was that Ira could be rehabilitated by someone giving him a job and money from the lottery would help the situation.  His problems sem so complex.  He was a Native American cought between two cultures.  He served in the South Pacific and may have been experiencing PTSD.  He was also stuggling with fame and the sequelli of being a celebrated war hero.  In my opinion a job as a chauffeur in Hollywood was not anything that would help him. 

[Janet Harrington]

A folk song about Ira Hayes was written by Peter La Farge.  Johnny Cash recorded the song as did Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Smiley Bates, Pete Seeger, Kinky Friedman,Tom Russell, Hazel Dickens, Patrick Sky, and Townes Van Zandt.  This is a song I sang when I was a teenager playing the guitar.  Here are the lyrics.

Johnny Cash Ballad Of Ira Hayes Lyrics

CHORUS:
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Gather round me people there's a story I would tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian
A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land

Down the ditches for a thousand years
The water grew Ira's peoples' crops
'Till the white man stole the water rights
And the sparklin' water stopped

Now Ira's folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man's greed

CHORUS:
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war


There they battled up Iwo Jima's hill,
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again

And when the fight was over
And when Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes

CHORUS:
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Ira Hayes returned a hero
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched and honored; Everybody shook his hand

But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no home, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira'd done
And when did the Indians dance

CHORUS:
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Then Ira started drinkin' hard;
Jail was often his home
They'd let him raise the flag and lower it
like you'd throw a dog a bone!

He died drunk early one mornin'
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes

CHORUS:
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lyin' thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died

You can go to this link and learn about Mr. Hayes.  There is a picture of him there.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Hayes

[W. Gray]

Janet, I recall Johnny Cash recorded that song and at one time I had the record.

I sure did not know Kinky Friedman was a singer.

I only know him as the funny strange guy opposite Juan Williams on Bill O'Reilly.

[twirldoggy]

Thanks for this very interesting information on Ira Hayes.  Makes me wonder about men who are heroes in the current wars and are not able to make adjustment to their currrent situations. 

[twirldoggy]

I saw Flags of Our Fathers for the first time this weekend.   What a great movie.  It did not portray him as drinking begore his service in thwe war.  It made sense of why he was disallusioned and how he reacted to it.  I am planning to watch Letters from Iwo Jima in the next few days and I hope to learn more from this movie.  My father served in the Jolly Rogers in the south Pacific during World War II, so it is good to get as realistic portrayal of what went on.   He was like others involved in the war.  He never spoke of it for years.  Only in his last years did he say any of the things that happened.  Fortunately I have some of the letters he sent home from New Guinea. 

[W. Gray]

Letters From Iwo Jima is also a very good movie.

Eastwood made both movies at the same time.

Most folks don't like subtitles but I think they add to the authenticity.

Director Spike Lee has been criticizing Director Clint Eastwood for both movies.

Seems he is complaining because there were no blacks in either movie. Go figure.

I thought I did see one black sailor on deck on one of the ships in Flags of Our Fathers and thought it was strange he would be there.

A web site says there were 160,000 blacks in the Navy in WWII but they apparently were not in combat positions.

Harry Truman did not desegregate the armed services until 1949.

[twirldoggy]

I have heard that blacks were not in combat during the second world war.  They were in support positions such as cooking, hauling and setting up camp.  I too thought it was strange to see the black man sitting on the boat with the white men.  It just didn't fit.  Don't think Spike Lee knows what he is talking about.