| The Ballad of Ira Hayes by Johnny Cash is an American patriotic song and short film about an American Native Indian from the Arizona Pima Indian Reservation who fought in World War II on the Island of Iwo Jima in 1945. Ira Hayes, 12 January 1923 to 24 January 1955, was one of 27 Marines in his company of 250 to survive the battle and subsequently become honored as an American War Hero. Ira Hayes is most noted for being one of the six brave men who raised the American Flag on Mount Suribachi in the famous photo by Joe Rosenthal. Ira Hayes became an acolholic and on 24 January 1955 died drunk at the age of 32 in a lonely roadside ditch in 2 inches of water. Johnny Cash's song, " Ballad of Ira Hayes", summarizes Ira's tragic heroic life and death in the song's famous chorus: "Call him drunken Ira Hayes, he won't answer any more, not that whiskey drinkin' Indian or the Marine that went to war." Ira Hayes was given the biggest funeral in the history of Arizona and was buried with full Military Honors in the Arlington National Cemetary in Virgina. |
