Franklin Sousley Franklin Runyon Sousley ( September 19 , 1925 – March 21 , 1945 ) was a United States Marine who was killed in action during World War II . He is one of the six men in the famous photograph of United States Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima in World War II . Early life . Sousley was born in Hill Top , Kentucky , the second child born to Merle Duke Sousley ( 1899 – 1934 ) and Goldie Mitchell ( November 9 , 1904 – March 14 , 1988 ) . When he was two years old , his five - year - old brother , Malcolm Brooks Sousley ( November 24 , 1923 – May 30 , 1928 ) , died due to appendicitis . Franklin attended a two - room schoolhouse in nearby Elizaville , and attended Fleming County High School in nearby Flemingsburg from ninth to twelfth grade . His younger brother Julian was born in May 1933 , and his father died due to diabetes complications a year later , at age 35 . At only nine years old , Franklin was the sole male - figure in the family , and assisted his mother in raising Julian . Julian died in a car accident on 4 October 1951 , at the age of 18 . Sousley graduated from Fleming High School in May 1943 , and resided in Dayton , Ohio as a worker in a refrigerator factory . Sousley received his draft notice , and chose to join the United States Marine Corps on January 5 , 1944 , and underwent extensive combat training as a member of the Fifth Marine Division . Sousley landed on Iwo Jima on February 19 , 1945 , and fought in the battle for the capture of the island . Alongside John Bradley , Ira Hayes , Rene Gagnon , Harlon Block , and Michael Strank , he raised the second and larger of two American flags at the summit of Mount Suribachi , an image immortalized ever after by Joe Rosenthal ' s photograph on February 23 , 1945 . World War II . He was to be returned to Washington , D . C . for a War bond tour with the other five flag raisers after the Marines secured the island . According to " " , when the word reached Iwo Jima , Sousley was on a dangerous part of the island , and his company commander , Captain Dave Severance , decided it was safer to leave him where he was than attempt an extrication under the conditions . According to James Bradley ' s " Flags of Our Fathers " , on March 21 , 1945 , PFC Sousley was shot in the back by a Japanese sniper , as he was walking down an open road on the nearly - secured island . A fellow Marine witnessed Sousley lying on the ground and asked , " How bad are you hit ? " Sousley ' s reply and last words were reportedly , " Not bad , I can ' t feel a thing . " However , Ron Elliott ' s " From Hilltop to Mountaintop " shows an affidavit signed by Rene Gagnon reporting that " Sousley was killed instantly . " Originally buried on the island of Iwo Jima , his remains were reinterred on May 8 , 1947 , in Elizaville Cemetery in Fleming County , Kentucky . Memorial . There is a small Franklin Sousley memorial in the Fleming County Public Library , Flemingsburg , Kentucky . Portrayal in film . In the 1961 film " The Outsider " , starring Tony Curtis as Ira Hayes , the fictional character James B . Sorenson ( Hayes ' s Marine buddy in the movie ) , portrayed by James Franciscus , was a composite based primarily on Franklin Sousley . In the 2006 film " Flags of Our Fathers " , about the six flag raisers on Iwo Jima , Franklin Sousley was portrayed by Joseph Michael Cross . The film is based on the 2000 book of the same title .