Maker of Iwo Jima video remembered, 75 years later

PIPESTONE — A young soldier from Pipestone shot the famous video footage of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima on Feb. 23, 1945 — 75 years ago this past Sunday.

But he never knew what a legacy he left.

William H. Genaust enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1943 as both an infantryman and a photographer, said Bill Morgan, emeritus professor of history at St. Cloud State University and a first cousin to Genaust.

Morgan said he only remembers meeting Genaust one time, when the Marine was home in Pipestone on furlough. While Genaust was visiting the Morgan home, a car backfired.

"I can still see him stiffening as if he was in combat again," Morgan said.

The February to March 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima lasted five weeks and is considered one of the bloodiest parts of World War II.

American troops captured the crest of Mount Suribachi in the morning of Feb. 23, and a small patrol was sent to raise the U.S. flag and communicate to the men on the beach that they had gained ground.

Later in the day, Col. Chandler Johnson asked the troops to hoist the stars and stripes again, bigger and higher this time so the flag could be seen from anywhere on the island, Morgan explained.

It was during this second flag raising that Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal captured his famous Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph. Perhaps lesser known — but just as significant — was the video of the occasion, which Sgt. Genaust filmed.

In the National Archives copy of Genaust's footage, the flag raising begins at 1:42.

"He was the only one who had color film and a moving camera," Morgan said of his cousin.

A mere nine days later, Genaust was killed in action.

Sent into a cave to check for Japanese troops, Genaust was shot to death, Morgan said.

"I don't think Adelaide (Genaust's wife) ever got over his death," Morgan recalled.

In his letter to Genaust's widow, Lt. Col. Donald L. Dickson wrote that the young sergeant had entered the cave with his flashlight, looking around with other Marines for any survivors of the company's grenade blasts. When the Japanese saw Genaust, they opened fire on him.

"Bill dropped without a sound," Dickson wrote. "As the bearer of the light, he had been the first target for a number of bullets. I feel sure he never knew what happened to him."

He also never knew the impact of those 298 frames of video depicting his fellow soldiers raising the American Flag on top of Mount Suribachi.

Morgan surmised that Genaust's video may be the most copied film ever. He noted that in the days wherein television stopped airing at midnight, Genaust's clip was used as a nightly sign-off.