was a United States Marine Corps sergeant who went missing in action during the battle of Iwo Jima while serving as a war photographer in World War II.
He is best known for filming the second U.S. flag-raising on top of Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945. Genaust operated a then-modern and lightweight 16 millimeter motion picture camera which used 50-foot color film cassettes. His motion picture of the flag-raising became one of the best-known film clips of the war, and documents the event famously depicted in the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.
Genaust was reported missing in action on March 3, 1945, after he was shot in a large cave at or around Hill 362-A, located on the northern part of Iwo Jima. On March 4, he was ruled killed in action. After talking with two photographers at Iwo Jima, Genaust’s friend Lt. Col. Donald L. Dickson offered the following account of Genaust’s death in a letter to his widow:
“As I understand it, a group of Marines were clearing caves of die-hard Japanese. Grenades were thrown in one cave and it was believed all the enemy were killed. The Marines wanted to double check and asked Bill if they could borrow his flashlight. Bill said he would go in with them. They crawled in and Bill flashed his light around. There were many Japanese still alive and they immediately opened fire. Bill dropped without a sound. As the bearer of the light he had been the first target for a number of bullets.
I feel sure he never knew what happened to him. The Marines forced the Japanese deeper into the cave but could not get them out. More men would have been killed in carrying out of the narrow cave Bill’s lifeless body. TNT charges were quickly placed at the cave mouth and exploded.
The whole cave mouth was blocked with earth from the explosion and Bill’s body was completely buried by it.” Despite renewed search efforts in 2007, the body of Genaust has not been recovered. He is among 250 Americans listed missing on Iwo Jima, although most of those were lost at sea.
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