Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun!

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Today in Comics Real History, February 19, 1945: They battled up Iwo Jima hill / Two hundred and fifty men / But only twenty-seven lived / To walk back down again

The comics you are about to see are products of their time. They may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in American society. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. While the following does not represent the comics industry view of today's society, these panels are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.

Call him drunken Ira Hayes / He won't answer anymore / Not the whiskey drinking Indian / Or the Marine that went to war

from "Scoops... Pictures to Remember" in Real Fact Comics #5 (DC/National, November 1946), pencils and inks by George Roussos

Gather 'round me people / There's a story I would tell / 'Bout 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 / 'Til the white man stole their water rights / And the sparkling 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

from "Iwo Jima" in Marines in Battle #1 (Marvel/Atlas, August 1954), pencils and inks by Gene Colan

Call him drunken Ira Hayes / He won't answer anymore / Not the whiskey drinking Indian / Or the Marine that went to war

from "A Jap in Every Hole" in Attack! (1958 series) #54 (Charlton, October 1958), script by Joe Gill (?), pencils by Don Perlin (?)

There they battled up Iwo Jima 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

There they battled up Iwo Jima 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

from "Was It Worth It?" in Fightin' Marines #26 (Charlton, August 1958); script by Joe Gill (?); pencils, inks, and letters by Sid Check

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

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

from "Dateline — Iwo Jima!" in Battle #70 (Marvel/Atlas, June 1960), plot by Stan Lee (?), script by Larry Lieber (?), pencils and inks by Carl Burgos, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek

from "Tattered Glory!" in The Unknown Soldier (1977 series) #209 (DC, November 1977), script by Bob Haney, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by Gerry Talaoc, colors by Jerry Serpe, letters by Erik Santos

from The World Around Us #11 [The Illustrated Story of the Marines] (Gilberton, July 1959), pencils and inks by Gerald McCann

'I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job, Jimmy, but you might wanna take a step or two back.'

'I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job, Jimmy, but you might wanna take a step or two back.'

from "James H. 'Jimmy' Hare" in it Really Happened #8 (Pines, April 1947), pencils and inks by Fred Guardineer

For a less rah-rah comic book retelling of the Battle of Iwo Jima, I highly recommend the entirety of EC's Frontline Combat #7, available in many reprint formats.

Call him drunken Ira Hayes / He won't answer anymore / Not the whiskey drinking Indian / Or the Marine that went to war

cover of Frontline Combat #7 (EC, July 1952); script, pencils, and inks by Harvey Kurtzman,
colors by Marie Severin, letters by Ben Oda

Then Ira started drinking hard / Jail was often his home / They let him raise the flag and lower it / Like you'd throw a dog a bone

Then Ira started drinking hard / Jail was often his home / They let him raise the flag and lower it / Like you'd throw a dog a bone

He died drunk early one morning / Alone in the land he fought to save / Two inches of water and a lonely ditch / Was a grave for Ira Hayes

from "Iwo Jima," script and vellum layouts by Harvey Kurtzman, inks by Wally Wood, colors by Marie Severin, letters by Ben Oda

Call him drunken Ira Hayes / He won't answer anymore / Not the whiskey drinking Indian / Or the Marine that went to war