JOHN, this is Travis with VoteVets. I’m a Marine Corps Veteran, and I want to tell you about a fellow Marine — Ira Hayes.

He was born in 1923 to a father who served in World War I. He was raised on Arizona’s Gila River Reservation just southeast of Phoenix, and was a member of the Pima Tribe. Things were tough for Ira growing up. Money was short, and there wasn’t much opportunity.

In 1942, at 19, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Ira was a good Marine. In 1943 he sailed to the Pacific Theater and fought in the Bougainville campaign for the better part of 11 months. Bougainville was tough, but nothing like what came next.

In February of 1945 he was one of 70,000 Marines who landed on the beaches of Iwo Jima, a small, volcanic island several hundred miles south of Japan. The battle of Iwo Jima is one of the most storied in the history of the Marine Corps, and for good reason. Of the 82 Medals of Honor awarded to Marines, more than 25% of them are from Iwo.

Ira fought on Iwo Jima for 36 days until the island was secured. A few days into the battle, Ira climbed Mount Suribachi alongside several of his comrades. When they reached the top, they took part in the second flag raising over Iwo Jima — and you’ve probably seen the picture:

We suffered nearly 30,000 casualties in the 36 days before Iwo Jima was secured, and more than 6,500 dead. Of the six men who raised that flag, three were killed in action by the time the battle was over. Ira’s platoon had 45 men when they landed on Iwo, and of that number just 5 were left at battle’s end.

Ira was identified as one of the flagraisers, and by then the photo from Iwo Jima was already one of the most famous in American history. He was pulled into an immensely successful War Bond tour that raised $26 billion (roughly $450 billion today). When the war ended, he was honorably discharged and returned home to Arizona.

The war took a heavy toll on Ira. Everyone up to the President of the United States called him a national hero for his service during the war. But Ira never felt like he was any more important than the other guys he fought beside, or the friends he lost in combat. In spite of his fame, he struggled to hold down work. And, like many veterans before and since, he suffered from alcoholism and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Ira Hayes died in January of 1955, just a few weeks after he helped dedicate the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington. Ira’s story, to me, is one worth telling. To me, Ira is a hero.

But the Trump Administration would have us forget him. They’ve deleted government webpages about Ira. They’ve done the same to far too many others, like Jackie Robinson, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Navajo Code Talkers, and thousands more.

They’re doing this because of a misguided campaign to eradicate so-called “DEI” from the government and the military. “Diversity” is dead, according to Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon. On Monday, his spokesperson said, “I think the president and the secretary have been very clear on this — that anybody that says in the Department of Defense that diversity is our strength is, is frankly, incorrect.”

The people who serve — no matter their gender or race— have earned our recognition and respect. But this administration is far more interested in erasing their legacies than building upon them.

I’m not going to stand for it.

JOHN, we’re asking for your help. Join VoteVets in demanding that the Trump Administration and the Department of Defense stop whitewashing our shared history, and restore these pages. This is the least we can do to honor them.

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With everything happening right now, this might seem like a small act to take. But we project our values through the history we observe and the heroes we honor. People like Ira Hayes sacrificed a lot for us and for our country.

VoteVets will not let Trump erase them.

Thank you,

Travis

Travis Tazelaar
Political Director, VoteVets
Marine Corps Veteran