DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Harlon Block grew up in Weslaco, Texas — Hidalgo County, deep in the Rio Grande Valley — and when World War II came calling, he answered as a United States Marine. Now, the island of Iwo Jima was small.
Small, but strategic, and the Japanese held it, and U.S. forces had to take it. That is the kind of equation that writes itself in blood. On February 23rd, 1945, while combat was still very much underway, marine Harlon Block was part of a group helping lay telephone wire — up the side of an inert volcano, mind you — hauling wire up a volcano while a war raged around them.
When they reached the summit, Block and five others did what people do when they need a flagpole and there isn't one handy: they improvised. They rigged one up, and they raised the American flag — high enough that men on the island could see it, high enough that sailors on the outlying ships could see it, high enough that a photographer could capture it in a single frame that would become one of the most recognized images of all of World War II. The flag raising on Mount Suribachi.
That photograph. Harlon Block is in it. He is right there, frozen in that moment, larger than life and yet still just a Marine doing a job in the middle of a fight.
The fight was not over. On March 1st, 1945, Block's squad leader was killed. Block took command of that squad.
And hours later — hours — Harlon Block was killed too. His remains were repatriated in 1949, brought home to Weslaco. Then in 1995, he was laid to rest at the Iwo Jima monument in Harlingen.
There is a photograph of a flag going up on a volcano, and a Texas boy is in it, and now you know his name.
What the marker says
During World War II, U.S. forces captured the small yet strategic Japanese-held Pacific Island of Iwo Jima. On Feb. 23, 1945, during combat, marine Harlon Block aided in laying telephone wire up an inert volcano. At the summit, Block and five others improvised a flagpole, attaching a flag visible to those on the island and outlying ships. In doing so, Block and his fellow servicemen became the subject of one of the most recognized photographic images of World War II, the U.S. flag raising on Mt. Suribachi. On Mar. 1, 1945, his squad leader was killed. Block took command, but was tragically killed hours later. His remains were repatriated in 1949 to his hometown of Weslaco and in 1995 to the Iwo Jima monument in Harlingen. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836 - 2011