Franklin Runyon Sousley (September 19, 1925 – March 21, 1945) was a United States Marine who was killed in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

When he was two years old, his five-year-old brother, Malcolm Brooks Sousley (November 24, 1923 – May 30, 1928), died due to appendicitis.

His younger brother Julian was born in May 1933, and his father died due to diabetes complications a year later, at age 35.

Sousley graduated from Fleming High School in May 1943, and resided in Dayton, Ohio as a worker in a refrigerator factory.

Sousley received his draft notice, and chose to join the United States Marine Corps on January 5, 1944.

[3] Private First Class Sousley landed with his unit at the southeast end of Iwo Jima near Mount Suribachi which was the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines objective on February 19, 1945, and fought in the battle for the capture of the island.

On the morning of February 23, Lieutenant Colonel Chandler W. Johnson, commander of the Second Battalion, 28th Marines, ordered E Company's executive officer, First Lieutenant Harold Schrier, to take a platoon-size patrol up 556-foot high Mount Suribachi to seize and occupy the crest, and if possible, raise the battalion's flag to signal the summit was secure.

E Company's Commander Captain Dave Severance assembled the remainder of his Third Platoon and members from the battalion to form a 40-man patrol.

The flag was then raised by Lt. Schrier, Platoon Sergeant Ernest Thomas, Sergeant Henry Hansen,[4] and Corporal Charles Lindberg at approximately 10:30 a.m.[5] Seeing the national colors flying caused loud cheering with some gunfire from the Marines, sailors, and Coast Guardsmen on the beach below and from the men on the ships near and docked at the beach.

Around noon, Marine Sergeant Michael Strank, a squad leader of Second Platoon, Easy Company, was ordered by his Company Commander Captain Dave Severance, to take three Marines from his rifle squad and raise a larger flag on top of Mount Suribachi.

Strank chose Corporal Harlon Block, Private First Class Ira Hayes, and Pfc.

Due to the high winds on Mount Suribachi, Navy Corpsman John Bradley helped some Marines make the flagstaff stay vertical.

On March 20, 1945, the Marine Corps was ordered by President Franklin Roosevelt to send the flag raisers in Rosenthal's photo after the battle to Washington D.C. as a public morale factor and to participate in a much needed war bond selling tour.

A service was held there in the morning of March 26 by the division's surviving Marines, which included Ira Hayes and other members of Sousley's platoon and company before they departed Iwo Jima the next day.

[9] The monument was sculpted by Felix de Weldon from the image of the second flag raising on Mount Suribachi.

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; and Richard Nixon, who gave the dedication address.

[13][10] Inscribed on the memorial are the following words: In the 1961 film The Outsider, starring Tony Curtis as Ira Hayes, the fictional character James B. Sorenson (Hayes's Marine buddy in the movie), portrayed by actor James Franciscus, was a composite based primarily on Franklin Sousley.

Sousley's military decorations and awards: Note: The Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal required 4 years service during the World War II time period.

There is a small Franklin Sousley memorial in the Fleming County Public Library, in Flemingsburg, Kentucky.