Raymond Jacobs was a United States Marine Corps

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

 Private First Class

Private First Class

Private First Class is a military rank held by junior enlisted persons.- Singapore :The rank of Private First Class in the Singapore Armed Forces lies between the ranks of Private and Lance-Corporal . It is usually held by conscript soldiers midway through their national service term...

, a Radioman with the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines of the 5th Marine Division (Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...

), and later a news reporter. Officially confirmed, Jacobs was the last surviving member of the original party of Marines who raised the first flag on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945 during the Battle of Iwo Jima

Battle of Iwo Jima

The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...

.

Biography

Raymond Jacobs was born in 1926 in Bridgeport

Bridgeport, Connecticut

Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...

, Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

. He served during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as a radio operator in the Pacific Theatre

Pacific Theater of Operations

The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...

. Awarded the Purple Heart

Purple Heart

The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...

, he was honorably discharged in 1946. He was called up during the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

 in 1951 before retiring as a sergeant.

Jacobs worked as a reporter, anchor

Anchor

An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .Anchors can either be temporary or permanent...

, and news director for KTVU

KTVU

KTVU, virtual channel 2 , is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the San Francisco Bay Area. Licensed to Oakland, California, the station has been owned by Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises since 1964, making it the largest Fox affiliate by market size that is not owned and operated by the...

 in Oakland

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 for 34 years before retired in 1992.

Photo claim

Jacobs spent his later years working to prove that he was the radio operator photographed by Louis R. Lowery

Louis R. Lowery

Louis R. "Lou" Lowery was a United States Marine Corps photographer best known for taking the first flag-raising photograph on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945...

, (a photographer with Leatherneck magazine

Leatherneck Magazine

Leatherneck Magazine of the Marines is a magazine for United States Marines. It was first published as a newspaper by off-duty Marines at Marine Corps Base Quantico in 1917, and was originally named The Quantico Leatherneck...

), standing beneath the first American flag

Flag of the United States

The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...

 raised by Marines on Mount Suribachi. He even disputed the official identifications in the picture and asserted that it should be: PFC James Robeson (lower left corner), Lt. Harold Schrier (sitting behind his legs), PFC Raymond Jacobs (carrying radio), Sgt Henry Hansen (cloth cap), unknown (lower hand on pole), Sgt Ernest Thomas (back to camera), Phm2c John Bradley (helmet above Thomas), PFC James Michels (with carbine), Cpl Charles Lindberg (above Michels).

Jacobs' face is not visible in Lowery's most widely circulated photograph. Jacobs' claim was based on other photographs taken at the flagraising by Lowery which he asserted show him. The man with a radio on his back in the most famous of Lowery's photographs had usually been identified as PFC Gene Marshall, a radio operator with the 5th Marine Division who died in 1987. The other men involved in the raising have all died. Annette Amerman, a historian with the Marine Corps History Division, said "there are many that believe" Jacobs was the radioman. "However, there are no official records produced at the time that can prove or refute Mr. Jacobs' location."

Raymond Jacobs died of natural causes at a hospital in Redding, California

Redding, California

Redding is a city in far-Northern California. It is the county seat of Shasta County, California, USA. With a population of 89,861, according to the 2010 Census...

, on January 29, 2008, at the age of 82.

See also

• Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
  Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
  Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is a historic photograph taken on February 23, 1945, by Joe Rosenthal. It depicts five United States Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman raising the flag of the United States atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.The photograph was extremely...
  
  
• Battle of Iwo Jima
  Battle of Iwo Jima
  The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...
  
  

External links

• Last Marine in Iwo Jima Photo Dies at 82, Associated Press, February 4, 2008.
• Raymond Jacobs in 2005 identified himself in a photo as the Marine radioman (picture), Associated Press archives.