In 1955,I had a favorite song
by
Johnny Cash
that facinated me so much, that I later read all I could learn about the subject.
I would like to share the lyrics with you now.
Below the lyrics are a few pictures and facts that I have learned....
I believe that this song,
and the story that inspired it,
demonstrate an ugly prejudice that still remains
and runs rampant in this great nation today...
The nation of
Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Gather 'round me people there's a story I would tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian
A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land
Down the ditches for a thousand years
The water grew Ira's peoples' crops
'Till the white man stole the water rights
And the sparklin' water stopped
Now Ira's folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man's greed
Call him drunken Ira Hayes He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' IndianNor the Marine that went to war
There they battled up Iwo Jima's hill,
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again
And when the fight was over
And when Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Ira returned a hero
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched and honored;
Everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no crops, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira'd done
And when did the Indians dance
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Then Ira started drinkin' hard;
Jail was often his home
They'd let him raise the flag and lower it
liked you'd throw a dog a bone!
He died drunk one mornin'
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lyin' thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died
Ira Hayes b. January 12, 1923 Sacaton, Arizona
d. January 24, 1955 Bapchule, Arizona
Ira Hayes was a Pima Indian
When he enlisted in the Marine Corps
he had hardly ever been off the Reservation.
His Chief told him to be an "Honorable Warrior"
and bring honor upon his family.
Ira was a dedicated Marine.
Quiet and steady,
he was admired by his fellow Marines
who fought alongside him in three Pacific battles.
When Ira learned that President Roosevelt
wanted him and the other survivors to come
back to the US to raise money on the
7th Bond Tour, he was horrified.
To Ira, the heroes of Iwo Jima,
those deserving honor, were his
"goodbuddies" who died there.
At the White House,
President Truman told Ira,
"You are an American hero."
But Ira didn't feel pride.
As he later lamented,
"How could I feel like a hero
when only five men in my platoon of 45 survived,
when only 27 men in my company of
250 managed to escape
death or injury?"
The BondTour was an ordeal for Ira.
He couldn't understand or accept the adulation . . .
"It was supposed to be soft duty,
but I couldn't take it.
Everywhere we went
people shoved drinks in our hands and said
'You're a Hero!'
We knew we hadn't done that much
but you couldn't tell them that."
Ira in later years . . .
went back to the reservation
attempting to lead an anonymous life.
But it didn't turn out that way . . .
"I kept getting hundreds of letters.
And people would drive through the reservation,
walkup to me and ask,
'Are you the Indian who raised the flag on Iwo Jima?'"
Ira tried to drown his
"Conflict of Honor" with alcohol.
Arrested as drunk and disorderly,
his pain was clear . . .
"I was sick.
I guess I was about to crack up
thinking about all my good buddies.
They were better men than me
and they're not coming back.
Much less back to the White House, like me."
In 1954,
Ira reluctantly attended the dedication
of the Iwo Jima monument in Washington.
After a ceremony where he was lauded
by President Eisenhower as a hero once again,
a reporter rushed up to Ira and asked him
"How do you like the pomp & circumstances?"
Ira just hung his head and said, "I don't."
Ira died three months later
after a night of drinking.
As Ira drank his last bottle of whiskey
he was crying and mumbling about his "good buddies."
Ira was 32.
