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~Ira Hayes~ * ~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 a thousand years
The waters 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' Indian
Nor 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 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 Hayes 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 home, 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
like you'd throw a dog a bone!
He died drunk early 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
Lyrics written by Peter LeFarge
Recorded by Johnny Cash 1964
Thank you, Ira Hayes, for being an honorable warrior
Thank you for your courage to fight for the freedom I now enjoy
Thank you, Ira Hayes, for offering your hands; outstretched to raise
our national flag on Mount Suribachi...
Just after this picture was shot,
Ira Hayes was taken off the Island of Iowa Jima and sent to the White House to meet President Truman.
When told he was a hero he was reported to have said,
"How can I feel like a hero when 250 of my friends landed on Iowa Jima and only 26 of us returned?"
He was courted as a hero only a few months. Ten years later, he died face down in a ditch, dead drunk.
I believe all the horrors of the war he saw and suffered through was his downfall. He didn't learn to trust God for all that happened. I can't say I blame him because it's hard to trust God when horrible things happen to you. However, looking to God for your hope and help is the only sure way to recover from
any tragedy. Yes, I do know what I'm talking about (from experiencing many
tragedies).
Pima Tribe
Born -January 12, 1923 Sacaton, Arizona
Died - January 24, 1955 Bapchule, Arizona
Buried in Arlington National Cemetery
Rightly so... Amen
When the public first demanded a stamp commemorating the Flag Raising picture,
the US Post Office initially rejected the idea out of hand.
"No living person(s) can appear on a US stamp," they replied.
But the public demand was so great that Congress pushed for the stamp.
It was issued just five months after the Flag-Raising. On the day of issue,
people stood patiently in lines stretching for city blocks on a
sweltering July day in 1945 for a chance to buy the beloved stamp.
For many years, this was the biggest selling stamp in the history of the US Post Office.
(Over 137 million sold.)
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