USS Missoula, local WWII hero Pfc. Louis Charlo to be honored

MISSOULA - The Wilma Theatre will host a special showing of the new WWII film, "Flags of Our Fathers," Sunday, October 22nd at 7pm. Produced by Clint Eastwood, the film focuses on the U. S. Marines' battle for Iwo Jima and the men who raised not one but two flags on the tiny volcanic islands' Mt. Suribachi, February 23, 1945.

Of particular local relevance is the attack transport, the USS Missoula named for Missoula County, which delivered the dozen Marines from Honalulu to Iwo Jima. In that group was Pfc. Louis Charlo, a Salish Indian from the Flathead Reservation, who helped raise the first flag supplied from the USS Missoula. Hours later, a senior officer would direct that it be replaced by a larger flag more visible to those aboard ships off shore. Charlo would be killed by a Japanese sniper's bullet a week later. Three years later, Charlo's remains returned home.

Much of the film follows the six men who raised the second flag. They became memorialized in the famous photo taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal who passed away recently.

A short ceremony prior to the film will include presentation of the flag by a U.S. Marines color guard and a reading by Vic Charlo of St. Ignatius, Pfc. Charlo's brother. Bill Worf of Missoula witnessed the raising of both flags while serving with the Marines. On display will be a flag provided by the Historical Museum of Ft. Missoula through the generosity of former USS Missoula signalman, Arthur Loveridge of San Rafael, CA. It is identical to the first flag raised over Iwo Jima. The film showing also heralds the official start of a campaign by the Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History for the construction of a model of the USS Missoula.

Western Montana is blessed with more than 36,000 veterans, many of whom served in the Pacific and European theatres in WWII. Statewide, there are more than 109,000 veterans, one of the highest numbers by percentage of any state in the country.