(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. The Memorial was turned over to the National Park Service in 1955. Inscribed on the memorial are the following words: In Honor And Memory Of The Men of The United States Marine Corps Who Have Given Their Lives To Their Country Since 10 November 1775 Later years and death Return to Iwo Jima On February 19, 1965, while working as an airline sales representative for Delta Air Lines, Gagnon visited Mount Suribachi with his wife and son. René Gagnon, Jr. commented in 2014 that his father René Gagnon, Sr. opened a travel agency and did accounting work, and in his last job, he had worked as head of maintenance at an apartment complex in Manchester, where he suffered a heart attack in the boiler room. According to the book Flags of Our Fathers (2000), in his later years Gagnon only participated in events that were at his wife's urging, events praising the U.S. flag raising on Iwo Jima. She enjoyed the limelight, whereas he, by that time, no longer did. Death Gagnon died on October 12, 1979, at age 54, in Manchester, New Hampshire. He resided in nearby Hooksett, and was survived by wife Pauline Gagnon and son René Gagnon, Jr. at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Manchester. At the request of his widow, a government waiver was granted on April 16, 1981, and his remains were re-interred in Section 51, Grave 543 of Arlington National Cemetery on July 7. Inscribed on the back of his Arlington headstone are the words: Military awards Gagnon's military awards include the following: Navy Presidential Unit Citation China Service Medal American Campaign Medal Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with " bronze star World War II Victory Medal Public honors Rene Gagnon monument (1995), Victory Park, Manchester, New Hampshire (has quote by Gagnon: "Do not glorify war. There's nothing glorious about it.") Wright Museum of WWII History, Rene Gagnon exhibit, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. which has not been removed yet despite of the revelation that he was not the flag raiser. Portrayal in films Gagnon appeared in two films about the Battle of Iwo Jima: To the Shores of Iwo Jima (a government documentary which simply showed the color footage of the U.S. flag raising) and Sands of Iwo Jima