--- title: 'Flags of Our Fathers' Dad Not Actually in Iwo Jima Photo description: James Bradley, the author of a bestselling book about at Iwo Jima, now says he doubts his father was in a famous photo canonical: https://time.com/4317261/iwo-jima-flags-of-our-fathers/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-04T00:51:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:14:58.101Z article:section: History og:title: Author of 'Flags of Our Fathers' Now Suspects His Dad Was Not in Iwo Jima Photo og:description: Historians now say a figure in the photo was misidentified og:url: https://time.com/4317261/iwo-jima-flags-of-our-fathers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15ad65464321e088/6988919b196cf4c79b03b725/iwo-jima-flag-raising-identity-error.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Iwo Jima Photo Identities og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Author of 'Flags of Our Fathers' Now Suspects His Dad Was Not in Iwo Jima Photo twitter:description: Historians now say a figure in the photo was misidentified twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15ad65464321e088/6988919b196cf4c79b03b725/iwo-jima-flag-raising-identity-error.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Author of 'Flags of Our Fathers' Now Suspects His Dad Was Not in Iwo Jima Photo  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 4, 2016 12:51 AM UTC  U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Japan, Feb. 23, 1945. U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Japan, Feb. 23, 1945.Joe Rosenthal—AP  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 4, 2016 12:51 AM UTC James Bradley, the author of a bestselling book about his father’s service at Iwo Jima, now says he doubts his father was one of the six [servicemen who were captured raising an American flag](http://time.com/3709182/iwo-jima-flag-history/) in the iconic photograph from the 1945 battle. Bradley told the [New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/04/us/iwo-jima-marines-bradley.html) he now believes his father had raised a flag with his fellow soldiers earlier in the day, but was likely not one of the men depicted in the famous picture. The revelation comes after the Marine Corps opened an investigation last week into whether the soldiers in the famous photograph had been misidentified. Two Omaha historians, Eric Krelle and Stephen Foley, were the first to raise doubts about the identities of the soldiers in the photo. They had studied footage and other photographs from that day of battle (Feb 23, 1945) and had concluded based on clothing and weapons that one of the soldiers, James Bradley’s father, was misidentified. The figure thought to be Bradley was probably actually another soldier, Harold Henry Schultz, who died in 1995, Krelle and Foley [argue. ](http://www.omaha.com/columnists/spurred-in-part-by-omaha-man-s-research-marine-corps/article%5F514348e0-0e47-11e6-9bd9-c39b126f962c.html) The photo, which quickly became the most widely printed photo from WWII, was taken by [Joe Rosenthal and printed in TIME. ](http://time.com/3709182/iwo-jima-flag-history/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4317261/iwo-jima-flags-of-our-fathers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4317261/iwo-jima-flags-of-our-fathers/"},"headline":"Author of 'Flags of Our Fathers' Now Suspects His Dad Was Not in Iwo Jima Photo","datePublished":"2016-05-04T00:51:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:14:58.101Z","description":"Historians now say a figure in the photo was misidentified","url":"https://time.com/4317261/iwo-jima-flags-of-our-fathers/","keywords":["WWII","History","Photo"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15ad65464321e088/6988919b196cf4c79b03b725/iwo-jima-flag-raising-identity-error.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15ad65464321e088/6988919b196cf4c79b03b725/iwo-jima-flag-raising-identity-error.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Iwo Jima Photo Identities","caption":"U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mt. 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