Franklin Sousley

Franklin Sousley
Public domain · source
Name	Franklin Sousley
Caption	Pfc. Franklin Sousley at Iwo Jima
Birth date	February 19, 1925
Birth place	Hill Top, Kentucky, United States
Death date	March 21, 1945
Death place	Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, Japan
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Marine Corps
Serviceyears	1943–1945
Rank	Private First Class
Unit	5th Marine Division; Company E, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment
Battles	Battle of Iwo Jima

Franklin Sousley was a United States Marine Corps infantryman who served during World War II and was one of the six Marines depicted in the iconic photograph of the raising of the United States flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Born in Kentucky, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1943 and fought with the 5th Marine Division in the Pacific Theater, where he was killed in action days after the famous flag-raising image was taken. Sousley's image became a symbol linked to American wartime sacrifice, commemorated by institutions and memorials including the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

Early life and family

Franklin Sousley was born in Hill Top, Lawrence County, Kentucky, on February 19, 1925, into a family of Appalachian farmers and laborers with roots in Knott County, Kentucky and neighboring West Virginia. His parents, Walter Sousley and Anna Mae Kanney Sousley, raised him alongside siblings in a household connected to local communities such as Inez, Kentucky and nearby coal-mining towns associated with Appalachian coalfield regions. The family attended regional religious institutions and local schools influenced by the culture of Southeastern Kentucky, and young Sousley grew up amid networks tied to nearby Cumberland River valleys and the broader rural United States of the 1930s. Local ties to veterans of World War I and community members who served in contemporaneous conflicts shaped his decision-making as he reached draft age during World War II.

Military service and enlistment

Sousley enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in November 1943, completing recruit training at Parris Island and joining units that would become part of the 5th Marine Division. Assigned to Company E, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, he trained at stateside installations tied to Camp Lejeune and staged with formations preparing for amphibious operations influenced by campaigns at Tarawa, Saipan, and Guadalcanal. His unit fell under commanders and staff connected to higher echelons including elements of V Amphibious Corps and the United States Pacific Fleet logistics network. As the Allied invasion of Iwo Jima was planned, Sousley’s regiment rehearsed amphibious assaults in environments modeled after Okinawa and other Pacific islands, integrating lessons from Amphibious Corps, Pacific Ocean Areas operations and joining transports bound for the Bonin Islands.

Battle of Iwo Jima and iconic photograph

On February 19, 1945, the Battle of Iwo Jima began when elements of the V Amphibious Corps landed on the island; the 28th Marine Regiment was committed to taking Mount Suribachi on the southwestern tip of Iwo Jima. Sousley participated in the assault waves that advanced under artillery and small-arms fire from entrenched defenders of the Empire of Japan. On February 23, a patrol raised a first, smaller flag on Mount Suribachi; hours later, a larger replacement flag was raised in an event photographed by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, producing the famous image depicting six Marines—members of units drawn from Company E, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines and supporting elements—hoisting the flag. The photograph quickly spread through outlets connected to Associated Press, newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, and became an emblem used by national campaigns including War Bond drives and governmental communications during World War II.

Wounds, death, and repatriation

After the flag-raising, Sousley continued fighting on Iwo Jima with his comrades amid fierce resistance and massed defenses including tunnels and fortified positions tied to Japanese doctrine from commanders of the Imperial Japanese Army. On March 21, 1945, Sou sley was killed by enemy fire while patrolling near the island’s northern sectors as combat continued beyond Mount Suribachi. His death occurred within the concluding phase of the campaign which involved planners and commanders associated with Admiral Chester W. Nimitz’s Pacific strategy. Sousley’s remains were initially interred on Iwo Jima before being repatriated to the United States under policies overseen by the War Department and families electing burial preferences; he was subsequently reinterred in his native Kentucky at a cemetery near Hill Top.

Legacy and memorials

Sousley’s role in the Rosenthal photograph linked him permanently to memorialization efforts that include the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, a sculpture based on the image and dedicated by figures such as Mamie Eisenhower and attended by representatives of the Department of Defense. The photograph and memorial have been invoked in contexts involving United States national symbolism, War Bond campaigns, and commemorations held at sites like the National World War II Memorial and regional museums in Kentucky and Indiana that preserve artifacts, letters, and regimental histories of the 5th Marine Division. Sousley is remembered alongside fellow flag-raisers and casualties of Iwo Jima in publications and collections at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Marine Corps History Division, and local historical societies in Lawrence County, Kentucky. Annual observances and exhibits at military history centers, veterans’ organizations including the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, and civic memorials continue to interpret his life within narratives of sacrifice associated with World War II.

Category:1925 births Category:1945 deaths Category:United States Marine Corps personnel Category:People from Lawrence County, Kentucky Category:Battle of Iwo Jima