The mysteries of Ira Hayes' life and death

You may know him as one of the U.S. Marines who protected America at Iwo Jima, but there's more to his story.

Ira Hayes (Getty Images)

Released in 1961 by Johnny Cash, “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” was penned by singer Peter La Farge who had previously composed several folk songs, often focused on Native Americans, cowboys, and love.

Hayes was the subject of La Farge’s most famous song, “The Ballad of Ira Hayes,” which tells of the U.S. Marine’s heroic service, his tragic early death, and a tantalizing bit about a country that is willing to use Native Americans in its own ways for its own purposes.

La Farge was reportedly inspired to write the tune after watching actor Tony Curtis’ (Jamie Lee’s non-Indian, Hungarian Jewish dad) portrayal of Hayes in the 1961 film The Outsider (more on that later). Plus, La Farge’s own dad was an overachieving anthropologist who studied Indians for a living, and it rubbed off.

While originally a B-side performed by Cash in 1961, the song came into its own in 1964 as part of Cash’s “Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian” concept album; upon release, it climbed to number 3 on the Billboard country music chart. Today, it plays on Amazon Music if you ask for a curated list of classic Americana tunes, and it’s listed as one of the top 100 western songs by the Western Writers of America.

Its lyrics form the basis of what America has largely known about Hayes:

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian
Or the Marine that went to war

Gather 'round me people
There's a story I would tell
'Bout a brave young Indian
You should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian
A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix Valley
In Arizona land
Down the ditches a thousand years
The waters grew Ira's peoples' crops
'Til the white man stole their water rights
And the sparkling water stopped
Now, Ira's folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the White man's greed

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian
Or the Marine that went to war

There they battled up Iwo Jima hill
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived
To walk back down again
And when the fight was over
And Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian
Or the Marine that went to war

Ira Hayes returned a hero
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched and honored
Everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no home, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira'd done
And when did the Indians dance

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian
Or the Marine that went to war

Then Ira started drinking hard
Jail was often his home
They let him raise the flag and lower it
Like you'd throw a dog a bone
He died drunk early one morning
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water and a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian
Or the Marine that went to war

Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lying thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died

Memorable lyrics, yes. A sad story that leaves us feeling all the feels, no doubt. But there’s so much more to this tale, and serious questions remain unanswered.