Harlon Block. (original) (raw)

Weslaco, Texas
One of the men who
raised the flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima.

Image 7 - Harlon Block and Classmates /

Teammates / Fellow Marines / Pall Bearers 1943

From left to right: Leo Ryan, Carl Sims, Ben Guess, Leo LaDuke, Pete Hall, Glen Cleckler, Robert Sooter, and Harlon Block.
Photo Courtesy Weslaco Museum

This photograph was taken for a special graduation when these eight young men of Weslaco High School Football Team enrolled in the Marine Corps in 1943.

Harlon Block, far right, was one of the men who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. One week after the incident, Corporal Block was killed in an assault on a Japanese position and buried there in the huge cemetery. He was later returned to Weslaco in 1949 where all seven of his former classmates served as pallbearers. The caption reports that 20 Weslaco High School students and a teacher died in WWII.

The Harlon Block Memorial: 1100 Vo-Tech Drive (The Texas National Guard Armory)