Gila River
The river in the Gila Box Canyon in eastern Arizona
Country	United States
States	New Mexico, Arizona
Tributaries
- left	San Simon River, San Pedro River, Santa Cruz River
- right	San Francisco River, Salt River, Agua Fria River, Hassayampa River
Source	Confluence of East and West Forks
- location	Grant County, New Mexico
- elevation	5,551 ft (1,692 m)
- coordinates	33°10′47″N 108°12′22″W / 33.17972°N 108.20611°W / 33.17972; -108.20611 [1]
Mouth	Colorado River
- location	Yuma, Arizona
- elevation	118 ft (36 m)
- coordinates	32°43′11″N 114°33′19″W / 32.71972°N 114.55528°W / 32.71972; -114.55528 [1]
Length	649 mi (1,044 km) [2]
Basin	58,200 sq mi (150,737 km2) [2]
Discharge	for Dome, AZ; 12 mi (19 km) from the mouth
- average	247 cu ft/s (7 m3/s) [3]
- max	200,000 cu ft/s (5,663 m3/s)
- min	0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
Map of the Gila River watershed

The Gila River ( /ˈhiːlə/; O'odham [Pima]: Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil) is a 649-mile (1,044 km)^[2] tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of nearly 60,000 square miles (160,000 km²) that lies mainly within the U.S. but also extends into northern Sonora, Mexico. Indigenous peoples have lived along the river for at least 2,000 years, establishing complex agricultural societies before European exploration of the region began in the 1500s. However, whites did not permanently settle the Gila River watershed until the mid-19th century.

During the twentieth century, human development of the Gila River watershed necessitated the construction of large diversion and flood control structures on the river and its tributaries, and consequently the Gila now contributes only a small fraction of its historic flow to the Colorado. These engineering projects have transformed much of the river valley and its surrounds from arid desert to irrigated land, and supply water to over five million people that live in the watershed.

Geography[link]

The Gila River has its source in western New Mexico, in Sierra County on the western slopes of Continental Divide in the Black Range. It flows southwest through the Gila National Forest and the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, then westward into Arizona, past the town of Safford. After flowing along the southern slope of the Gila Mountains in Graham County through a series of canyons, the Gila is impounded by Coolidge Dam in San Carlos Lake south of Peridot.

It emerges from the mountains into the valley southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, where it crosses the Gila River Indian Reservation as an intermittent stream due to large irrigation diversions. Well west of Phoenix, the river bends sharply southward along the Gila Bend Mountains, then it swings westward again near the town of Gila Bend. It flows southwestward through the Gila Mountains in Yuma County, and finally it empties into the Colorado at Yuma, Arizona.

The Gila is joined by many tributaries, beginning with the East and West Forks of the river, which combine to form the main stem near Gila Hot Springs in New Mexico. Above Safford, it is joined by the San Francisco River and the intermittent San Simon River. Further downstream it is joined by the San Carlos River from the north in San Carlos Lake. At Winkelman, Arizona it picks up the San Pedro River and then is joined by the Santa Cruz River south of Casa Grande. The Salt River, its main tributary, joins in the Phoenix metro area, and further west the Gila receives its last two major tributaries, the Agua Fria and Hassayampa Rivers, from the north.

Although the Gila River flows entirely within the United States, the headwaters of two tributaries – the San Pedro and Santa Cruz Rivers – extend into Mexico. About 1,630 sq mi (4,200 km²), or 2.8% of the Gila's 58,200-square-mile (151,000 km²) watershed, is in Mexico.^[4] A further 3,300 sq mi (8,500 km²) or 5.7% lies within New Mexico, while the remaining majority, 53,270 sq mi (138,000 km²) or 91.5%, is in Arizona.^[5]

History[link]

A band of Pima (autonym "Akimel O'odham", river people), the Keli Akimel O'odham (Gila River People), have lived on the banks of the Gila River since before the arrival of Spanish explorers. Popular theory says that the word Gila was derived from a Spanish contraction of Hah-quah-sa-eel, a Yuma word meaning "running water which is salty".^[6] Their traditional way of life (himdagĭ, sometimes rendered in English as Him-dak) was and is centered at the river, which is considered holy. Traditionally, sand from the banks of the river is used as an exfoliant when bathing (often in rainstorms, especially during the monsoon).

Indigenous peoples such as the Hohokam were responsible for creating large, complex civilizations along the Gila and Salt Rivers between 600 and 1450 A.D. These native civilizations depended largely on irrigated agriculture, for the purposes of which they constructed over 200 miles (320 km) of canals.^[7]

The first European to see the Gila River was possibly Spanish explorer and missionary Juan de la Asunción. Asunción reached the Gila in 1538 after traveling northwards along one of its tributaries, either the San Pedro or Santa Cruz.^[8] In 1540, Hernando de Alarcón sailed up the Colorado and Gila Rivers; maps drawn by his expedition show the river as the Miraflores or Brazos de la Miraflores.^[9]

The Gila River near Coolidge Dam in Arizona

During the Mexican-American War, General Stephen Watts Kearny marched 100 cavalrymen from the 1st U.S. Dragoons along the Gila River in November 1846.^[10] This detachment was guided by Kit Carson. The Mormon Battalion followed Kearny's troops, building a wagon trail roughly following the river from December 1846 to January 1847.^[11]

After the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848, the Gila River served as a part of the border between the United States and Mexico until the 1853 Gadsden Purchase soon extended American territory well south of the Gila. The confluence of the Gila with the Colorado River was also used as a reference point for the southern border of California. Beginning in 1871, mainly Mormon settlers populated the Gila River valley around present-day Phoenix, using the Gila, Salt and San Pedro Rivers for irrigation and establishing at least six major settlements.^[12]

In 1944 twenty-five German POWs pulled off the largest and most spectacular escape from an American compound during the war, digging a 178-foot tunnel out of the Navy’s Papago Park Prisoner of War Camp in Arizona. All of the men were eventually captured, though some remained at large for more than a month. Among the last to be brought in were three German soldiers who had based their audacious but ill-fated escape plans on a stolen highway map of Arizona, which showed the Gila River leading to the Colorado River, which in turn led to Mexico.

Devising a scheme to flee by water, the Germans constructed a collapsible kayak under the noses of their American captors, tested it in a makeshift pool within the prison compound, then snuck it out through the tunnel. Their plan was perfect- except for the map. The Gila, shown as a healthy blue waterway, turned out to be little more than a dry rut.^[13]

Dams and diversions[link]

Painted Rock Dam in central Arizona, with its usually dry reservoir nearly full after heavy runoff in 2005

The only major dam on the Gila River is Coolidge Dam 31 miles (50 km) southeast of Globe, Arizona, which forms San Carlos Lake. The Painted Rock Dam crosses the Gila near Gila Bend, although the river is a transient one at that point. A number of minor diversion dams have been built on the river between the Painted Rock Dam and the Coolidge Dam, including the Gillespie Dam which was breached during a flood in 1993. Many dams have also been built on tributaries, including Theodore Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River, New Waddell Dam on the Agua Fria River, and Bartlett Dam on the Verde River. Many major dams in the Gila River system were built and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation which also constructed most of the large dams throughout the Colorado River basin. Others, such as Coolidge Dam, are owned by local water supply agencies, irrigation districts or Native American tribes.

The Gila River and its main tributary, the Salt River, would both be perennial streams carrying large volumes of water, but irrigation and municipal water diversions turn both into usually dry rivers. Below Phoenix to the Colorado River, the Gila is usually either a trickle or completely dry, as is also the lower Salt from Granite Reef Diversion Dam downstream to the Gila, but both rivers can carry large volumes of water following rainfall. The Gila River a long time ago was navigable by boats from its mouth to near the Arizona – New Mexico border. The width varied from 150 to 1,200 feet (46 to 370 m) with a depth of 2 to 40 feet (0.61 to 12 m). The natural discharge of the river was roughly 1,300,000 acre feet (1.6 km³) per year, with a mean flow of about 1,800 cubic feet per second (51 m³/s) at the mouth.^[14] The river's present discharge near the mouth is less than 180,000 acre feet (0.22 km³) per year, with an average flow of just 247 cubic feet per second (7.0 m³/s).^[3] Overdraft from the Gila River system has prompted the construction of the Central Arizona Project, which delivers some 1,500,000 acre feet (1.9 km³) annually from the Colorado River to supplement water supplies in the basin.^[15]

The upper Gila River, including its entire length within New Mexico, is a free-flowing one. Recent efforts to allow for damming or otherwise diverting this stretch have met with stiff political resistance, having been named as one of the nation's most endangered rivers due to proposed dam projects such as Hooker Dam. During his time in office, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson had promised to block any such attempt during his term, and he had even considered pushing for a statutory prohibition against any such projects on the state's portion of the river.^[16]

Recreation[link]

Middle Fork of the Gila River, SW New Mexico

Rock spires above the East Fork of the Gila River, Gila Wilderness

The Gila River between Virden, New Mexico and Solomon, Arizona is navigable during spring snowmelt and after summer and autumn storms. The river passes through many scenic canyons and stretches of Class I to III whitewater. Due to its desert surroundings, the river is characterized by erratic flows and flash floods that reach high peaks and drop off just as quickly. The Gila's Salt River tributary has even more difficult whitewater, ranging up to Class IV in places, and often has higher and more dependable flows than the Gila.

Boating and fishing are popular on San Carlos Lake and other basin reservoirs, including Lake Pleasant and Theodore Roosevelt Lake. The river system has 36 fish species,^[17] including largemouth bass, sunfish, channel catfish, flathead catfish and Gila Trout (Oncorhynchus gilae gilae).

Variant names[link]

The Gila River has also been known as:^[1]

• Akee-mull
• Apache de Gila
• Brazo de Miraflores
• Cina`ahuwipi (Chemehuevi language)
• Hah-quah-sa eel (Yuma language)
• Hela River
• Jila River
• Rio Azul
• Rio Gila
• Rio de las Balsas
• Rio del Nombre Jesus
• Rio del los Apostoles
• Zila River
• Xila River
• Keli Akimel

See also[link]

Gila River at U.S. 95

• San Francisco River
• San Pedro River
• Santa Cruz River
• Agua Fria River (Arizona)
• List of Arizona rivers
• List of New Mexico rivers
• List of tributaries of the Gila River
• List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)
• Gila River War Relocation Center
• Needle's Eye Wilderness
• Gila and Salt River Meridian

References[link]

Footnotes[link]

Works cited[link]

• Benke, Arthur C.; Cushing, Colbert E. (2005). Rivers of North America. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12088-253-1. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gila River

• Gila River Tourism Website
• Arizona Boating Locations Facilities Map
• Arizona Fishing Locations Map
• Where to Fish in Arizona Species Information
• Arizona Lake Levels

v t e Colorado River system Jurisdictions  United States (Arizona  · California  · Colorado  · Nevada  · New Mexico  · Utah  · Wyoming)  Mexico (Baja California  · Sonora) Canyons Byers Canyon Gore Canyon Red Gorge Glenwood Canyon De Beque Canyon Horsethief Canyon Ruby Canyon Westwater Canyon Cataract Canyon Narrow Canyon Glen Canyon Grand Canyon Marble Canyon Granite Gorge Middle Granite Gorge Lower Granite Gorge Grand Wash Canyon Iceberg Canyon Virgin Canyon Boulder Canyon Black Canyon Pyramid Canyon Mohave Canyon Natural features River course Rocky Mountains Colorado River Basin Grand Lake Sonoran Desert Mojave Desert Colorado Desert Imperial Valley Colorado Plateau New River Gulf of California/Sea of Cortez Salton Sea Delta Tributaries Blue River Dirty Devil River Dolores River Escalante River Eagle River Fraser River Gila River Green River Gunnison River Kanab Creek Little Colorado River Paria River Roaring Fork River San Juan River Virgin River Williams Fork Engineering Mainstem dams Shadow Mountain Granby Glen Canyon Hoover Davis Parker Palo Verde Imperial Laguna Morelos Major reservoirs Fontenelle Reservoir Flaming Gorge Reservoir Blue Mesa Reservoir Navajo Reservoir Lake Powell Lake Mead Lake Mohave Lake Havasu Theodore Roosevelt Lake San Carlos Lake Aqueducts and canals Grand Ditch Colorado River Aqueduct San Diego Aqueduct Central Arizona Project All-American Canal Coachella Canal Water projects Boulder Canyon Project  · Colorado-Big Thompson Project  · Colorado River Storage Project  · Grand Valley Project  · Yuma Project See also: Floyd Dominy  · International Boundary and Water Commission  · Metropolitan Water District of Southern California  · U.S. Bureau of Reclamation  · William Mulholland Designated areas Arches National Park Canyonlands National Park Colorado National Monument Dead Horse Point State Park Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Grand Canyon National Park Lake Mead National Recreation Area Rocky Mountain National Park

Nadine Ruth Mix (1912 – 1977) was the daughter of western film star Tom Mix, and a B-movie actress during the 1930s.

Born in Dewey, Oklahoma, to Tom and Olive Stokes Mix, she started her acting career following in her fathers footsteps. In the mid-1920s she starred in several silent films. She made a total of twelve westerns, particularly The Tonto Kid, Fighting Pioneers, Saddle Aces and Gunfire, all made in 1935. In 1936 she starred in three cliffhanger serials, The Black Coin, The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand, and Custer's Last Stand.

She played the female lead in a few B-westerns, starring alongside Wally Walls and Hoot Gibson. She then retired from acting and began taking the lead role for her fathers circus and wild west show. That business went bankrupt by the end of the 1930s, during the Great Depression. After that, she all but disappeared from acting circles. Some accounts say that she died in 1972, but it is most commonly believed that she died in 1977.

External links[link]

• Ruth Mix at the Internet Movie Database
• Ruth Mix at AllRovi
• B-Western Ladies, Ruth Mix

This article about a United States film actor or actress born in the 1910s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Ira Hamilton Hayes
Nickname	Chief Falling Cloud[citation needed]
Born	(1923-01-12)January 12, 1923 Sacaton, Arizona
Died	January 24, 1955(1955-01-24) (aged 32) Sacaton, Arizona
Place of burial	Arlington National Cemetery, Section 34
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1942 - 1945
Rank	Corporal
Unit	3rd Parachute Battalion 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines 1st Headquarters Battalion, HQMC
Battles/wars	World War II Bougainville Campaign Battle of Iwo Jima

Ira Hamilton Hayes (January 12, 1923 – January 24, 1955) was a Pima Native American and an American Marine who was one of the six men immortalized in the iconic photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima during World War II.^[1][2] Hayes was an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community in Sacaton, Arizona, and enlisted in the Marine Forces Reserve on August 24, 1942. He trained as a Paramarine and saw action in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. On February 19, 1945, Hayes participated in the landing at Iwo Jima and fought in the subsequent battle for the island. On February 23, Hayes, together with fellow Marines Rene Gagnon, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, and Mike Strank, and Navy Corpsman John Bradley, raised the American flag over Mount Suribachi, an event photographed by Joe Rosenthal.

As a result of Rosenthal's photograph, Hayes and the others became national heroes in the United States. He was instrumental in confirming the identity of one of his fellow Marines in the photograph, Harlon Block. Hayes was never comfortable with his new-found fame, however, and after his honorable discharge from the Marine Corps he descended into alcoholism. He died of exposure and alcohol poisoning on January 24, 1955 after a night of drinking, and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

Hayes was often commemorated in art and film, both before and after his death. He is depicted in the Marine Corps War Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, based on the famous photograph, and he portrayed himself in the 1949 film Sands of Iwo Jima. His story was the subject of the 1961 film The Outsider, and inspired Peter La Farge's song "The Ballad of Ira Hayes". He was also depicted in the 2006 film Flags of Our Fathers.

Early life[link]

Hayes was born in Sacaton, Arizona, a town located in the Gila River Indian Community in Pinal County, the eldest of six children to Nancy Hamilton (1901–1972) and Joseph Hayes (1887–1978).^[3] The Hayes children were: Ira (1923–1955), Harold (1924–1925), Arlene (1926–1929), Leonard (1927–1952), Vernon (1929–1958), and Kenneth (born 1931).^[3]

Joseph Hayes was a World War I veteran who supported his family by subsistence farming and cotton harvesting.^[4] Nancy Hayes was a devout Presbyterian and a Sunday school teacher at the Assemblies of God church in Sacaton.^[4]

As a child, Hayes was remembered as being shy and sensitive by his family and friends. Sara Bernal, his first cousin, stated, "[Joseph Hayes] was a very quiet man, he would go days without saying anything unless you spoke to him first. The other Hayes children would play and tease me, but not Ira. He was quiet, and somewhat distant. Ira didn't speak unless spoken to. He was just like his father."^[5] His boyhood friend Dana Norris stated, "Even though I'm from the same culture, I could never get under his skin. Ira had the characteristic of not wanting to talk. But we Pimas are not prone to tooting our own horns. Ira was a quiet guy, such a quiet guy."^[5] Despite this, Hayes was a precocious child who displayed an impressive grasp of the English language, a language that many Pimas did not know how to speak.^[4] He was also a voracious reader, learning how to read and write by age four.^[4]

Pfc. Ira H. Hayes, a Pima, at age 19, ready to jump, Marine Corps Paratroop School, 1943

In 1932, the family settled in Bapchule, Arizona, located approximately 12 miles northwest of Sacaton.^[4] The Hayes children attended grade school in Sacaton and high school at the Phoenix Indian School in Phoenix, Arizona. Esther Monahan, one of his classmates, stated, "Ira wasn't like the other guys. He was shy and never talked to us girls. He was so much more shy than the other Pima boys. The girls would chase him and try to hug him and kiss him, like we did with all the boys. We'd catch the other boys, who enjoyed it. But not Ira. Ira would just run away."^[6] After the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, Ira confided to his classmate Eleanor Pasquale that he was determined on serving in the United States Marine Corps.^[6] Pasquale stated, "Every morning in school, [the students] would get a report on World War II. We would sing the anthems of the Army, Marines, and the Navy."^[7] In June 1942, Hayes graduated at the Phoenix Indian School and returned to the reservation.

Hayes enlisted in the Marine Forces Reserve on August 24, 1942.^[8]

Hayes had been trained at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California, and went on to become a paratrooper at Marine Corps Base San Diego and had a codename of Chief Falling Cloud. On December 2, 1942, he joined Company B, 3rd Parachute Battalion, Divisional Special Troops, U.S. 3rd Marine Division, at Camp Elliott, California. On March 14, 1943, Hayes sailed for New Caledonia with the 3rd Parachute Battalion. Hayes served a tour of duty there and first saw combat in the Bougainville Campaign.

The Marine Corps parachute units were disbanded in February 1944, and Hayes transferred to Company E, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, U.S. 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, California. Hayes agreed to serve a second tour of duty, and sailed to Hawaii in September 1944.

Battle of Iwo Jima[link]

Hayes is pictured to the far left

On February 19, 1945, the 5th Marine Division landed on Iwo Jima. Hayes partook in the battle for the island and was among the Marines that took Mount Suribachi five days later on February 23, 1945.

The raising of the second American flag on Suribachi by five Marines: Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, and Mike Strank, and a Navy Corpsman, John Bradley, was immortalized by photographer Joe Rosenthal and became an icon of the war. Overnight, Hayes became a national hero, along with the two other survivors in the famous photograph, Rene Gagnon and John Bradley.

When Iwo Jima was secured by U.S. forces, Hayes was ordered to Washington, D.C. Together with the Navy Pharmacist's Mate John Bradley and Marine Private First Class Rene Gagnon, he was assigned to temporary duty with the Finance Division, U.S. Treasury Department, for appearances in connection with the Seventh War Bond Drive.^[9]

Rank and military awards[link]

• Corporal
• Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat "V" Device
• Combat Action Ribbon
• Presidential Unit Citation (Ribbon only) with One 5/16" Silver Star
• American Campaign Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with Four Bronze 3/16" Stars (for Vella Lavella, Bougainville, Consolidation of the Northern Solomons, and Iwo Jima)
• World War II Victory Medal
• USMC Occupation of Japan Medal
• Parachutist Badge
• Rifle Sharpshooter Badge

Post World War II[link]

Ira Hayes (left) with Los Angeles mayor Fletcher Bowron (1947)

After the war, Hayes attempted to lead a normal civilian life. "I kept getting hundreds of letters. And people would drive through the reservation, walk up to me and ask, 'Are you the Indian who raised the flag on Iwo Jima?'"^[10] Although he rarely spoke about the flag raising, he spoke about his service in the Marine Corps with great pride.

After returning home from the war, Hayes remained troubled that one of his friends, Harlon Block, one of the flag raisers who was killed in action days after, was mistaken for another man, Hank Hansen. Hayes later hitchhiked 1,300 miles from the Gila River Indian Community to Edward Frederick Block, Sr.'s farm in Weslaco, Texas in order to reveal the truth to Block's family. He was instrumental in having the controversy resolved, to the delight and gratitude of the Block family.

Ira Hayes appeared in the 1949 John Wayne film, Sands of Iwo Jima, along with fellow flag raisers John Bradley and Rene Gagnon. All three men played themselves in the film. Wayne hands the flag to be raised to the three men. (The actual flag that was raised on Mount Suribachi is used in the film.)

After the war, Hayes was arrested 52 times for public drunkenness.^[11] Referring to his alcoholism, he once said: "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."^[10]

In 1954, after a ceremony where he was lauded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a hero, a reporter approached Hayes and asked him, "How do you like the pomp and circumstance?" Hayes hung his head and said, "I don't."^[12]

Hayes' disquiet about his unwanted fame and his subsequent post-war problems were first recounted in detail by the author William Bradford Huie in The Outsider, published in 1959 as part of his collection Wolf Whistle and Other Stories. The Outsider was filmed in 1961, directed by World War II veteran turned film director Delbert Mann and starring Tony Curtis.^[13]

The 2006 film Flags of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood, suggests that Hayes suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder.

Death[link]

Ira Hayes' tombstone.

On the morning of January 24, 1955, Hayes was found dead, lying in his own blood and vomit, near an abandoned adobe hut in Sacaton, Arizona. He had been drinking and playing cards at a bar on the reservation with his friends and brothers Vernon and Kenneth. An altercation ensued between Hayes and a Pima named Henry Setoyant, and all left except Hayes and Setoyant.

The Pinal County coroner concluded that Hayes' death was caused by exposure and alcohol poisoning. However, his brother Kenneth still believes that the death resulted from the altercation with Setoyant. The Gila River Police Department did not conduct an investigation into Hayes' death and Setoyant denied any allegations of fighting with Hayes.^[14]

In the 1961 film of his life, (starring Tony Curtis) The Outsider, his death is dramatized for the screen. He is shown freezing to death on an Arizona mountain top, after a night of drinking.

Hayes is buried in Section 34, Grave 479A at Arlington National Cemetery. At the funeral, fellow flag-raiser Rene Gagnon said of him: "Let's say he had a little dream in his heart that someday the Indian would be like the white man — be able to walk all over the United States."^[15]

Commemoration[link]

On November 10, 1993, the United States Marine Corps held a ceremony at the Iwo Jima Memorial commemorating the anniversary of the Corps. Of Ira Hayes, USMC Commandant General Carl Mundy said:

One of the pairs of hands that you see outstretched to raise our national flag on the battle-scarred crest of Mount Suribachi so many years ago, are those of a Native American ... Ira Hayes ... a Marine not of the ethnic majority of our population.

Were Ira Hayes here today ... I would tell him that although my words on another occasion have given the impression that I believe some Marines ... because of their color ... are not as capable as other Marines ... that those were not the thoughts of my mind ... and that they are not the thoughts of my heart.

I would tell Ira Hayes that our Corps is what we are because we are of the people of America ... the people of the broad, strong, ethnic fabric that is our nation. And last, I would tell him that in the future, that fabric will broaden and strengthen in every category to make our Corps even stronger ... even of greater utility to our nation. That's a commitment of this commandant ... And that's a personal commitment of this Marine.

Portrayal in music, film and literature[link]

• Hayes' story was immortalized in a song, "The Ballad of Ira Hayes", by Peter LaFarge. Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Smiley Bates, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Kinky Friedman, Tom Russell, Hazel Dickens, Patrick Sky, and Townes Van Zandt each covered the song. In 1964, Cash took the song to number 3 on the Billboard country music chart.^[16]
• Ira Hayes appeared as himself in the 1949 John Wayne film, Sands of Iwo Jima.
• In the 1960 telefilm The American, he was played by Marine veteran Lee Marvin.
• Tony Curtis played Hayes in the 1961 film The Outsider.^[13]
• Hayes was portrayed by Adam Beach in the 2006 movie Flags of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood. The movie was based on the 2000 bestselling book of the same name by James Bradley and Ron Powers.
• The poet Ai dedicates her poem "I Can't Get Started" to Hayes.
• Ira Hayes is mentioned in the poem "Petroglyphs of Serena" by Adrian C. Louis.
• Ira Hayes was also mentioned briefly in the book "Code Talker" by Joseph Bruchac.
• Ira Hayes was also mentioned multiple times in the book "Indian Killer" by Sherman Alexie.

Monuments, memorials, and namings[link]

• Marine Corps War Memorial (rear Marine flag raising figure), Arlington, VA
• Hayes Peak, the northernmost mountain in the Sierra Estrella, Phoenix, AZ
• Ira Hayes Park (statue), Sacaton, Arizona
• Marine Corps League, Ira Hayes Detachment 2, Phoenix, AZ
• American Legion, Ira Hayes Post 84, Sacaton, AZ

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	World War II portal
	United States Marine Corps portal

• Native Americans and World War II
• PTSD
• Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
• Shadow of Suribachi: Raising The Flags on Iwo Jima
• Survivor guilt

Bibliography[link]

Notes

References

• Bradley, James; Powers, Ron (2006). Flags of Our Fathers (2006 ed.). Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-58908-5.  - Total pages: 576
• Quiet Hero: The Ira Hayes Story written and illustrated by S. D. Nelson, (Lee & Low Books, 2006) ISBN 978-1-58430-263-6.
• The Outsider and Other Stories, by William Bradford Huie, Panther Books, GB 1961, originally published in the USA 1959, by Signet as Wolf Whistle and Other Stories

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ira Hayes

• Gila River Indian Community official website
• Peter LaFarge Biography
• The Flag Raisers on Iwojima.com
• The Outsider at the Internet Movie Database
• Flags of Our Fathers - Movie