Ernest Ivy Thomas Jr.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower sat upfront during the dedication ceremony with Vice President Richard Nixon, Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Anderson, and General Lemuel C. Shepherd, the 20th Commandant of the Marine Corps. Ira Hayes, one of the three surviving flag raisers depicted on the monument, was also seated upfront with John Bradley (incorrectly identified as a flag raiser until 2016), Rene Gagnon (incorrectly identified as a flag raiser until October 16, 2019), Mrs. Martha Strank, Mrs. Ada Belle Block, and Mrs. Goldie Price (mother of Franklin Sousley). Those giving remarks at the dedication included Robert Anderson, Chairman of Day; Colonel J.W. Moreau, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), President, Marine Corps War Memorial Foundation; General Shepherd, who presented the memorial to the American people; Felix de Weldon, sculptor; and Richard Nixon, who gave the dedication address. Inscribed on the memorial are the following words:

On March 14, an American flag was officially raised up a flagpole by orders of Lieutenant General Holland Smith at the V Amphibious Corps command post on the other side of Mount Suribachi where the 3rd Marine Division troops were located, and the second flag which was raised on February 23 on Mount Suribachi came down. Lt. Col. Johnson was killed on March 2, Sgt. Strank and Cpl. Block were killed on March 1, and Pfc. Sousley was killed on March 21.

In the 2006 film Flags of Our Fathers, Thomas was played by American actor Brian Kimmet.

In 1948, Thomas's body was returned to Monticello, Florida. He was buried at Roseland Cemetery in Jefferson County, Florida.

On February 23, 1945, Lieutenant Colonel Chandler W. Johnson, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, ordered a platoon-size patrol to climb up 556-foot Mount Suribachi. Captain Dave Severance, E Company's commander, assembled the remainder of his Third Platoon and other members of the battalion headquarters including two Navy corpsmen and stretcher bearers. First Lieutenant Harold Schrier, E Company's executive officer, was handed the Second Battalion's American flag from Lt. Colonel Johnson (or the battalion adjutant) measuring 28 by 54 inches (137 by 71 cm) which had been taken from the attack transport USS Missoula (APA-211) on the way to Iwo Jima by First Lieutenant George G. Wells the Second Battalion's adjutant in charge of the battalion's flags. Lt. Schrier was to it take a patrol with the flag up the mountain and raise the flag if possible at the summit to signal that Mount Suribachi was captured and the top secure. At 8:30 a.m., Lt. Schrier started climbing with the patrol up the mountain. Less than an hour later, the patrol, after receiving occasional Japanese sniper fire, reached the rim of the volcano. After a brief firefight there, Lt. Schrier and his men captured the summit.

Joe Rosenthal's (Associated Press) historic photograph of the second flag-raising on February 23, 1945, appeared in Sunday newspapers on February 25, as the flag-raising on Mount Suribachi. This flag raising was also filmed in color by Marine Sgt. Bill Genaust (killed in action in March) and was used in newsreels. Other combat photographers with and besides Rosenthal ascended the mountain after the first flag was raised and the mountaintop secured. These photographers including Rosenthal and Pfc. George Burns, an army photographer who was assigned to cover Marine amphibious landings for Yank Magazine, took photos of Marines (including Thomas), corpsmen, and themselves, around both of the flags. The second flag-raisers received national recognition. The three survivors (two were found out to be incorrectly identified) of the flag raising were called to Washington, D.C. after the battle by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to participate in a bond tour to raise much needed money to pay for the war. The Marines who captured Mount Suribachi and those who raised the first flag including Platoon Sgt. Thomas, generally did not receive national recognition even though the first flag raising and Thomas had received some public recognition first.

The Marine Corps War Memorial (also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial) in Arlington, Virginia, which was inspired by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the second flag-raising on Mount Suribachi by six Marines on February 23, 1945, was dedicated on November 10, 1954 (179th anniversary of the Marine Corps). Harold Schrier, Charles Lindberg, and Lou Lowery, from the patrol that raised the first flag on Mount Suribachi, attended the dedication ceremony as guests.

Thomas enlisted in the Marine Corps on May 27, 1942. He completed boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, and remained there as an instructor. Afterwards, he was an instructor at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. In March 1944, he was assigned to E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, CA. In September, his company was sent to Camp Tarawa in Hawaii to train with the 5th division for the Battle of Iwo Jima. In January 1945, the 5th division left for Iwo Jima.

Thomas was a rifle company platoon sergeant with Third Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines. On February 19, his unit landed with the first wave of Marines on the southern beach of Iwo Jima towards Mount Suribachi. On February 21, Thomas took over the command of the Third Platoon from his platoon commander who was wounded. Thomas and his men successfully assaulted a heavily fortified hostile sector at the base of Mount Suribachi. Thomas directed tank fire while under fire during the Marine assaults on the Japanese, and combined with his other actions that day, this would eventually contribute to the capture of the mountain on February 23 by Thomas and his platoon. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism on February 21.

Ernest Ivy "Boots" Thomas Jr. (March 10, 1924 – March 3, 1945) was a United States Marine Corps platoon sergeant who was killed in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. He was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism while fighting for and at the base of Mount Suribachi. Two days later he was a member of the patrol that captured the top of Mount Suribachi where he helped raise the first U.S. flag on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. He was killed eight days after that.

On March 3, Platoon Sgt. Thomas was killed by enemy sniper rifle fire at the north side of Iwo Jima. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross (for the February 21 action) and the Purple Heart Medal. He was buried at the 5th Marine Division cemetery on Iwo Jima where a service was held on March 26, the morning of the day the battle ended.