by Slim Smith

Mesa, Arizona (AP)

The gift shop attached to the Gila River Indian Center in Sacaton features crafts and gifts that pay homage to the tribe’s history. What you won’t find there is anything associated with perhaps its most famous son, Ira H. Hayes.

Hayes was one of six men who raised the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima on Feb. 23, 1945. The flag-raising, captured in a photo by Associated Press, photographer Joe Rosenthal, became one of the most famous photos of World War II, in turn making a reluctant hero out of the painfully shy 22-year-old Pima from Arizona.

Sara Bernal, whose father was Hayes’ first cousin, is one of his few living relatives. Bernal takes care of Hayes’ lone surviving brother, Kenneth, who is 75.

“His memory is failing, plus he’s pretty shy, too,” Bernal says. “Soon, there will be no one left to tell his story.”

Clint Eastwood’s movie Flags Of Our Fathers, which chronicles the events surrounding the historic photo, opened nationwide Oct. 20.

Bernal, with about 200 members of the community, attended a screening of the movie recently at Scottsdale’s Cine Capri Theater.

She was pleased with the way Hayes was portrayed and hopes the movie will renew interest in Hayes among the tribal members, for whom he remains much of a mystery.

It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that about all the people here know of Hayes is that he helped raise the flag and that he died drunk.

In Hayes, the Gila River Indians have a truly tragic hero.

Along with two others in the photo who survived the battle, Hayes toured the country promoting war bonds and was hailed as a hero.

It was a role that did not suit him, though, and he soon returned to Arizona.

He worked mainly menial jobs and drank heavily – he was reported to have been arrested for drunkenness 50 times – and died on Jan. 24, 1955, when he was found face down in a shallow pool of water. His death was ruled accidental and most people believe he simply passed out from a drinking binge and died of exposure. He was just 32 years old.

More than 50 years after his death, Hayes still comes up in conversation at the reservation. But it’s a pretty short conversation.

“People still talk about him,” said Merla Shorthair, who works behind the counter at the gift shop. “But mainly all they know about him is about the flag and that he lived here.”

From time to time, visitors note the small display in the center’s museum.

“Mostly, they are men who have been in the military and they’ve read about him,” said Geneva Lyons, who also works at the gift shop. “They want to know where he lived, if he has any relatives around here, things like that.”

Bernal was only 9 when Hayes died and doesn’t remember much about her famous relative.

“He was very quiet,” Bernal said. “He liked to stay to himself. All of his family was that way, too. He didn’t like to talk to start with. And the hero thing, he was even more uncomfortable with that.”

Even though Hayes was one of eight children, there are few relatives.

“You know, none of his brothers ever married or had children,” Bernal said. “It’s just me and his brother.”

Bernal hopes the movie will give the Gila River community a sense of a man who, by virtue of his natural reticence and awkwardness as a war hero, remains famously unknown.

Bernal remembers Hayes as a kind, quiet and tortured soul.

She wonders if his life would have turned out differently if he had access to more assistance.

“Back then, people didn’t look at alcoholism the way they do now. And the post-traumatic stress treatments didn’t exist. You have to wonder what his life would have been like if he had had the help that’s available today. It’s sad.”

Still, Bernal believes Hayes deserves to be remembered for heroism at Iwo Jima.

“I hope everybody in the community sees the movie,” she said. “He shouldn’t be forgotten.”