The Daily Populous Thursday February 20th, 2025 evening edition
Image from preview.redd.it and submitted by Unfinished-Basement

Dear_Diary12 on February 20th, 2025 at 12:37 UTC »

What happened after, OP? Did Grandpa Rudy survive?

yeahmaybe on February 20th, 2025 at 13:56 UTC »

The man pictured is a Marine named Rudolph Emil Engstrom. He passed away in 2019 at the age of 95.

The Library of Congress has a recorded audio interview with him from 2003 here: https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.54783/

Spartan2470 on February 20th, 2025 at 14:32 UTC »

Here is a higher-quality version of this image. Here is a less-cropped version. Here provides the following context:

> Photographer: Sgt. Dave Christian/U.S. Marine Corps

> Source: National Archives

> Caption: Cpl. Rudolph E. Engstrom rests in a shell hole on Iwo Jima, holding a piece of shrapnel that wounded him.

Here is a colorized version of this that was done by /u/ColourbyRJM over here.

Here adds:

> Wounded in Action on Iwo Jima, 20 February 1945. He'd been treated by a Navy corpsman and was holding a piece of shrapnel which had struck him in the neck. Engstrom had originally served as a "Paramarine" in the 2nd Parachute Battalion and fought in the Choiseul Raid of 1943. When the parachute units were deactivated in 1944 and were used to cadre the new 5th Marine Division, he was assigned to Company H/3rd Battalion/27th Marines/5th Marine Divison. That is the same regiment and division that the famous Medal of Honor-recipient "Manila John" Basilone served in on Iwo. Note that being a true leatherneck, Engstrom was carefully clutching his M-1 rifle, while waiting for a stretcher team to evacuate him. This photo appears in the official 5th Marine Division history book and is also shown in the closing credits of the 2006 Clint Eastwood film "Flags of Our Fathers."