Cpl Harlon Block USMC
(1924-1945)

Died aged c. 21

Harlon Henry Block (November 6, 1924 – March 1, 1945) was a United States Marine Corps corporal who was killed in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Born in Yorktown, Texas, Block joined the Marine Corps with seven high school classmates in February 1943. He subsequently became a Paramarine and participated in combat on Bougainville. After the Paramarines were disbanded in 1944, he was one of the Marines who raised the second U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, as shown in the iconic photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima by photographer Joe Rosenthal. The first flag raised over Mount Suribachi at the south end of Iwo Jima was deemed too small. Later that day, Block, a rifleman in the 5th Marine Division, was ordered up the mountain with three Marines to raise a larger flag. As there was no photograph of the first flag-raising, the second flag-raising photograph became famous and was widely reproduced. The second flag raising was also filmed in color. Block was not recognized as one of the second flag-raisers until the Marine Corps announced in January 1947 (after an investigation) that he was in the photograph and Sergeant Henry Hansen was not. Block is one of three Marines in the photograph who were not originally identified as flag raisers. The Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, was modeled after Rosenthal's photograph of six Marines raising the second flag on Iwo Jima.

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Commemorated on 1 plaque

Texas Historical Marker #16768

Cpl. Harlon Block, USMC. 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. #16768

1020 West 18th Street, Weslaco, TX, United States where they was