Talk:Rene Gagnon

300k
This article, as many of you know, is the cursed 300,000th article to be added to Wikipedia. blankfaze | &bull;&bull; | &bull;&bull; 04:11, 7 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Family
Though I am not the person who is reverting the section about Gagnon's descendants, I must ask the person who keeps adding it why it seems so important. Mr. Gagnon's PUBLIC fame rests entirely on the fact that he was in a famous photograph. That he had children, grandchildren, neices and nephews, etc., is not important or relevant to his fame. It is only important to his family (which I can understand) It will only be edited out yet again by someone. Sir Rhosis 20:53, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

Year of birth
After I reverted a minor act of vandalism—a user changing the year of birth from 1925 to 1919—I checked the two official links on the page, and both the Who's Who in Marine Corps History and the Arlington National Cemetery page give Gagnon's year of birth as 1926. I Samuel Gagnon is desendent of Rene Gagnon a There's another less authoritative page that does show 1925, but going with the better sources, I changed the year in the article to 1926. Does someone have better information? -- Shelf Skewed  talk  03:47, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Every book I've read shows March, 1925. Every source makes a point of noting that Franklin Sousley (born Sep. 19, 1925) was the youngest of the flagriasers.  I've seen enough sources to state that it was 1925.  I'm sure there's a photo of his tombstone out there.  His wife was pretty damned involved in making sure exactly what got put on it--what does it say?  Sir Rhosis 19:11, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Hell, there's a pic of it on his page -- it says 1925. I'm gonna revert.  Sir Rhosis 19:14, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Right you are. Which raises the question: Why do the Marine Corps and Arlington sites have it wrong? Oh, well—not our beat. -- Shelf Skewed  talk  22:15, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Attempt to capitalize on picture's fame
While I have read James Bradley's book and it is evident that Gagnon did wish to use the photo as a point to do better for himself, most of the examples listed in this article are quite lame. He appeared in a government documentary about the flag. Well, so did Hayes and Bradley. He appeared in "Sands of Iwo Jima," well, fuck, so did Hayes and Bradley. The only distinct thing listed is that he was in a Rose Bowl parade. Big deal. So far, mostly he has done publicity things that the other two fellows did, yet they aren't called on it as Gagnon is. Now, James Bradley did mention in "Flags" that Gagnon attempted to put together a lecture tour for himself in 1954. Does anyone else think we should drop the items that also involved Hayes and Bradley and just concentrate on what Gagnon himself did -- the Rose Bowl parade and the speaking tour? Sir Rhosis (talk) 01:14, 6 May 2008 (UTC)


 * I agree 100% —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.57.254.159 (talk) 09:11, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

I agree 100 % also, but someone put it back in. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.56.100.26 (talk) 20:02, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Note from a relative of Rene Gagnon
[This section comes from the main article page (from where it has been deleted), since it is (uncited) original research. Whilst the main article contains many uncited claims, and it's true that the original editor did not exclude other points of view in putting theirs forward, I'm moving this content here, rather than removing the original, largely because this content is not encyclopedic in tone. (I have added several "citation needed" flags to the main article page.) If the points made in this section can be independently established (and I'm somewhat persuaded by the claim that Gagnon did not attempt to profit from his fame any more than Hayes and Bradley did), the main article page should definitely be modified. Mjs (talk) 22:43, 7 July 2010 (UTC)] "I am a relative of Rene Gagnon and a degree holder in history. Bradley James, and Ron Powers perpetuated this belief that Rene Gagnon tried to cash in on his being one of the flag raisers at Iwo Jima with the book the Flags of our Fathers and Clint Eastwood without checking facts in the movie based on the book. The two films he did, he was approached to do them, as he was to be part of the Rose Bowl half time show, he chose to do them out of honor. Not out of some attempt to get rich off of them. He never really tried to cash in on his being one of the men who raised the flag as he has been portrayed doing. He was not a bitter man, but he was an alcoholic, and it was a direct result of post traumatic stress disorder, which most veterans of Iwo Jima and the other major campaigns of WWII all suffered from. Alcohol abuse is common with the soldiers who survived WWII and was their means of coping.

The quote referenced above is taken out of context and was it was done to perpetuate Rene being a man trying to cash in. These are pieces of his statements in an interview put together to portray him as someone other then who he was. Nothing more.

Ira Hayes was not the saint he was portrayed to be, and was one who tried cashing in on raising the flag at Iwo Jima on levels, something Rene did talk about that fact with the family. Yet Ira Hayes and John Bradley are portrayed as legends, not human beings who made choices as well.

Rene did work a lot of jobs that were unskilled and did have problems maintaining employment, again a part of his post traumatic stress. His last job was not as a janitor. He actually worked as a night clerk at a hotel, a position he held until his death according to family sources. From my understanding of the facts, he died on the job.

His son Rene Gagnon Jr. went to his mother and told her that his father was gone. She didn't understand he was telling her Rene had passed and she asked, not quoted word for word, where did he go. Then Rene Gagnon Jr. explained how he died. She thought Rene went on a trip. A bit of history that our family years later has found some humor in due to how a statement can be taken contextually different then the intended message, and not something you would see in a history book either.

What contributed to the persona people believe about Rene Gagnon trying to cash in on his being one of the men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima has to do with the town of Hooksett NH showing gratitude to a local boy. When Rene returned home, without any prior knowledge of the towns plans, it gave him land, built a house on it, and exempted him from paying property taxes on their gift for the rest of his life. A lot of towns did this around the country for those they felt were heroes and he was one. It just so happens that Rene was condemned for it by some and they felt everything else, such as his being in two movies, was an extension of what they believed was cashing in. If that was the case then every soldier who accepted similar gifts from their home towns are guilty of cashing in as well.

I did not and will not delete what was written above, because even if incorrect, the book it is taken from Flags of Our Fathers is considered historically accurate, and being one who values history I know there are many sides to it. It is why I have added the historical facts about Rene from our family. This way people can see for themselves multiple view points and make up their own minds on whether Rene was trying to cash in, or portrayed incorrectly. That is what he fought for at Iwo Jima, the freedom for people to choose and make up their own minds."

Disruptive Edits
Currently, I am engaging in an edit war with YahwehSaves (Talk|Contribs) and their sock puppet 75.79.31.20 (Talk|Contribs) (which is a common occurrence for their disruptive edits, see their contributions page), for their attempts to add unreferenced and uncited information. One issue is the Combat Action Ribbon, which wasn't awarded until 1969. YahwehSaves continues to add this information, among other unreferenced information, to the page, where I promptly revert the edit & invite them to discuss such edits here at the talk page. It is not my intention to keep factual information from being on this page, but I'm unable to find any references to Rene Gagnon being retroactively awarded the CAR. As such, the edits made by YahwehSaves & 75.79.31.20 will be continue to be reverted if unreferenced.Bullmoosebell (talk) 02:22, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

Public Law 106-65--October 5, 1999: The Secretary of the Navy may award the Combat Action Ribbon to a member of the Navy or Marine Corps for participation in ground or surface combat (Gagnon) during any period on or after December 7, 1941. The CAR is one of Gagnon's military awards according to the Marine Corps and should be included on his awards list in order of precedence.YahwehSaves (talk) 08:45, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Russian flag raisers
This article is about Rene Gagnon. The two Russian flag raisers from the European Theater of Operations being listed in the "See Also" section here and at any of the other five second American flag raisers article sites is unnecessary. American flags were put up on other Pacific islands that were captured by Marines besides Iwo Jima like Okinawa and those American flag raisers are not recognized. Two flags were raised on Mount Suribachi and an official flag-raising ceremony (raised by 2 Marines) took place at Marine Headquarters near the base of Mt. Suribachi on March 14 supposedly as the 2nd flag on Mt. Suribachi was lowered.YahwehSaves (talk) 23:18, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

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