AMAZING Newspaper Page Signed by Ira Hayes and Rene Gagnon, Iwo Jima Flag Raisers-This is one of the most amazing things we have ever had to offer here at The Ruptured Duck in my opinion. Dad heard about TWO of these, identical in every way, that were found under the floorboards of a home. This is the exact wording from the email we received from the seller……
A Vietnam vet who I'm friends with found these newspapers under the linoleum floor of his mother’s house. The paper is from April 1945 and is signed by two of the flag raisers. He grew up in the house and said floor was there for many decades. There are two of them. If you look, you can see that they were both signed. He also gave me two jars of sand from Iwo. One from the landing beach and one from top of mount Suribachi A National Geographic journalist gave it to him.”
Like I said, amazing right?!? So, we have decided to let one of these go, the other will stay in our collection, hanging proudly on a wall in our main room. The paper is The Sunday Star from Washington D.C. and it is dated April 22, 1945. It is very clearly signed by both Rene A. Gagnon Pfc. and Ira H. Hayes, Pfc. U.S.M.C. It measures 11” by 15” and is housed in a contemporary frame. Inside the frame is a clipping from an envelope which has a stamp of the flag raisers. This is postmarked July 20, 1945 in Philadelphia, PA. Fantastic!