Harlon Block Harlon Henry Block ( November 6 , 1924 – March 1 , 1945 ) was a United States Marine during World War II . Born in Yorktown , Texas , Block joined the Marine Corps in November 1943 and subsequently participated in combat action on Bougainville and Iwo Jima where he was killed in action . He is best known as one of the six men photographed raising the flag on Iwo Jima . Early life . Block was born in Yorktown , Texas , the third of six children to Edward Frederick Block and Ada Belle Brantley , a Seventh day - Adventist family . The Block children were : Edward , Jr . , Maurine , Harlon , Larry , Corky , and Melford . Edward Frederick Block was a World War I veteran and supported his family by working as a dairy farmer . In hopes of improving the family , the Block family relocated to Weslaco , Texas , a small town located in the Rio Grande Valley . His father became a dairy farmer , and the children attended a Seventh - day Adventist private school . Harlon Block was expelled in his freshman year when he refused to tell the principal which student had vandalised the school . Block then transferred to Weslaco High School in Weslaco , and was remembered as an outgoing student with many friends . A natural athlete , Block led the Weslaco Panther Football Team to the Conference Championship . He was honored as " All South Texas End " . Block and twelve of his high school football teammates enlisted in the Marine Corps through the Selective Service System at San Antonio on February 18 , 1943 . After basic training in San Diego , he took parachute training and qualified as a Paramarine . He was promoted to private first class on May 22 , 1943 . He was sent to the Pacific Theatre . He arrived at New Caledonia on November 15 , 1943 , where he served as a member of Headquarters and Service Company , 1st Marine Parachute Regiment , I Marine Amphibious Corps . On December 21 , he landed on Bougainville and participated in the Bougainville Campaign . The parachute regiment disbanded on February 29 , 1944 , and he was sent back to San Diego , California . He joined Company E , 2nd Battalion , 28th Marine Regiment , 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton , California and on October 24 , Block was promoted to corporal . Block landed on Iwo Jima on February 19 , 1945 . He participated in the second American flag - raising on Mount Suribachi on February 23 , 1945 . Block idolized and followed his rifle platoon squad leader without question as assistant squad leader until Sgt . Michael Strank was killed on March 1 , according to the book , " Flags of Our Fathers " . Block assumed command of the squad and while leading them hours later the same day during an attack toward Nishi Ridge , he was mortally wounded by an enemy mortar round explosion . . . Block ' s last words were , " They killed me ! " Flag raising controversy and burial . In the battle aftermath , controversy arose as to the real identity of one of the Marines who planted the American flag in the famous photograph of the flag - raising on Iwo Jima . When Block ' s mother first viewed Joe Rosenthal ' s iconic flag raising photograph in the Weslaco newspaper on February 25 , just two days after the photo was taken , she immediately exclaimed , " That ' s Harlon " , pointing to the figure on the far right . However , Rene Gagnon mistakenly identified the person as Sergeant Hank Hansen of Boston , another Paramarine who was involved in the first flag - raising earlier that day , but who was not included in the famous photograph . John Bradley concurred with Gagnon at that time . Block ' s mother never wavered in her belief that it was Harlon insisting , " I know my boy " , yet no one believed her . Some eighteen months later , a Congressional investigation revealed that it was indeed Block and not Hansen in the photograph . Fellow Paramarine Ira Hayes was instrumental in proving Block ' s involvement in the famous photograph , and in the end , both Gagnon and Bradley agreed that " it could be Block " . In fact , Hayes had told Marine officials ( and Block ' s father shortly before the investigation ) that the sixth flag raiser was Block , but since the Marines had already made announcements that Hansen had been identified , he was told not to make waves . Block was originally buried in the 5th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima in 1945 . In January 1949 , he was re - interred in Weslaco , Texas . In 1995 , his body was moved to a buried place at the Marine Military Academy near its Iwo Jima monument in Harlingen , Texas . Portrayal in film . Harlon Block is featured in the 2006 Steven Spielberg film " Flags of Our Fathers " , directed and co - produced with Spielberg , by Clint Eastwood . In the movie , Block is portrayed by American actor Benjamin Walker . His parents are portrayed by Christopher Curry and Judith Ivey . The film is based on the 2000 book of the same title .