NH Iwo Jima flag raiser knife up for auction.

[nastygunz]

NH Iwo Jima flag-raiser's knife goes up for auction

By AMANDA BELAND
New Hampshire Union Leader
Related

Rene Gagnon, Manchester native and one of the Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.

This Marine Corps knife owned by Rene Gagnon is being auctioned by a California auction house.
Seventy years ago Monday, Rene Gagon, John Bradley, Ira Hayes, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley and Michael Strank climbed to the top of Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi and raised the American flag â€" the first foreign flag raised on Japanese soil in World War II.
As they raised the flag, photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped the well-known picture that would earn him a Pulitzer Prize.

All six men fought in the battle for Iwo Jima, which was raging at the time the flag was raised. Only three of the six survived the battle, which lasted more than a month.
Gagnon, of Manchester, was one of the survivors.

Tomorrow, the knife Gagnon used fighting on Iwo Jima goes up for auction online.

According to Sam Heller, public relations director for Nate D. Sanders Auctions of Los Angeles, the company that will be auctioning off Gagnon’s knife, this “unusual, one-of-a-kind thing” could land at least $20,000.
“Items with this special significance tend to empower people to want them,” Heller said.

The Marines-issued knife belonged to Gagnon until he died at age 54 in 1979. Since then, it has officially belonged to his son, Rene Gagnon Jr.
But for Gagnon Jr., of Concord, the knife was a part of his life long before his father’s death.

“I used it growing up â€" in Boy Scouts, cutting things up around the house, playing cowboys and Indians, lots of ways,” he said.
Gagnon Jr. said he always expressed his fondness for the knife â€" which is how it came into his possession. “When I was younger, the whole time I really liked that knife and I made that clear.”

Gagnon Jr. said he decided to sell the knife now partly for financial reasons, partly because he was unsure of where it was going to end up.
“I have three daughters and a son, and it was never like ‘I like this,’ so there’s the thought of where do I leave it,” he said.

“A lot of my father’s memorabilia is in Wolfeboro (at the Wright Museum of World War II History). If there’s someone there who cares for it, then it’s not going to get lost or something.”
Gagnon Jr. said he’s aware that his father has a public persona that’s been perpetuated by interviews, books and movies. But to him, Rene Gagnon represents something much simpler.

“To the whole world, he was a hero, but to me, he was my father, just my father,” said Gagnon Jr. “I had the knife, yeah, and now someone who cares about that type of thing can have it, but I had and have my father.”
The auction of Gagnon’s knife will open on Thursday. The minimum bid for the item is $11,000. For more information on the knife itself, to view bids or to place a bid, visit tinyurl.com/iwoknife
abeland@unionleader.com
- See more at: www.unionleader.com/article/20150225/NEWS18/150229562#sthash.aUXMxY0I.dpuf

[riverboss]

I couldn't sell it! $20,000 seams very low to me I see pics on antique road show that go for a lot more than that, I think this should be worth more than some painting it history and a very important part of our country.

[Frogman]

I have the Marine K-Bar knife my Dad used on Iwo Jima.  Rene Jr. is a FB friend on the Iwo Jima FB site.  I hope he get's a good price for the knife.  I have considered donating some of my Dad's wartime memorabilia to the local Veteran's Museum?  Haven't done it yet.  My sons show no interest in it??

Jim

[FinsnFur]

Yah it doesnt seem right to put monetary value on it. Interesting little write up. Thanks for posting that nasty.

[bambam]

I couldn't sell that if I owned it. It would stay in the family.

[JohnP]

I agree with bambam, just could not bring myself to do it.

[nastygunz]

If it was me I think I would donate it to a museum. Or if I sold it and donate the money to a veterans organization. Hard to imagine the blood mud and brutality that knife went through, and its owner.