Author says he now thinks father wasn't Iwo Jima flag-raiser

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The author of a best-selling book about his father and other men who raised a U.S. flag at Iwo Jima during World War II said Tuesday he no longer believes his father was in an iconic photograph of the event.

James Bradley, who wrote the book "Flags of Our Fathers," said in a telephone interview that questions raised about the photo by two amateur historians, which have prompted a Marine Corps investigation, led him to think back on comments his father made about the 1945 flag-raising.

The picture was displayed on front pages of newspapers across the U.S., later was used in a war bond sale and was depicted in the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

Since 1947, the Marines have identified the Iwo Jima flag-raisers as John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Harlon Block, Michael Strank and Franklin Sousley.