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Ira Hayes

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Hero

The Resume

    (January 12, 1923-January 24, 1955)
    Member of the Pima Nation
    One of five U.S. Marines (and a U.S. Navy Corpsman) to raise the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II (February 23, 1945)
    One of three of the six flag raisers that survived WW II
    Died of alcohol related exposure at age 32

Why he might be annoying:

    While training as a paratrooper he was nicknamed Chief Falling Cloud.
    President Franklin Roosevelt made him go on a goodwill U.S. Bond tour after Iwo Jima, something he was uncomfortable doing.
    President Harry Truman called him a hero, but he told a friend: 'How could I feel like a hero when only five men in my platoon of 45 survived, when only 27 men in my company of 250 managed to escape death or injury?'
    After the war he fell prey to alcoholism.
    He was arrested nearly 50 times for public drunkenness.
    He died alone in an abandoned hut after a night of drinking and playing cards.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He tried to stay out of the limelight after the war, but people would drive to his reservation and ask
    'Are you the Indian who raised the flag on Iwo Jima?'
    After yet another White House ceremony (where President Eisenhower called him a hero) a reporter asked him how he liked the 'pomp & circumstances?' He hung his head and stated: 'I don't.'
    One of the other two surviving Iwo Jima flag raisers attended his funeral.
    He has a mountain named after him, Hayes Peak, in the Sierra Estrella mountain range located southwest of Phoenix, Arizona.
    He has been immortalized in a song, 'The Ballad of Ira Hayes,' sung by both Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan.
    He said of his drinking:
    'I was sick. I guess I was about to crack up thinking about all my good buddies. They were better men than me and they're not coming back. Much less back to the White House, like me.'

Credit: Scar Tactics


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 24 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 29 Votes: 37.93% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 26.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 11 Votes: 45.45% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 49 Votes: 46.94% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 9387 Votes: 40.55% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 403 Votes: 79.40% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 27 Votes: 59.26% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 115 Votes: 53.04% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 1095 Votes: 40.55% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 3493 Votes: 24.42% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 207 Votes: 59.90% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 83 Votes: 51.81% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 2407 Votes: 32.03% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 4388 Votes: 30.10% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 1571 Votes: 29.09% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 177 Votes: 44.63% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 869 Votes: 40.62% Annoying
    In 2005, Out of 713 Votes: 43.48% Annoying