Victory Park is dedicated to all the Manchester veterans and current military personnel who have answered the country's call to arms. There is one notable soldier that the park is dedicated to and that is Private First Class Rene A Gagnon. Rene A Gagnon was fighting with the United States Marine Corps. on Iwo Jima. He was one of 6 men who took part in the most memorable flag raising in United States History.
He was not originally ordered to help raise the flag with the original 4 men but when other orders brought him to the top of Mount Surabachi on February 23rd, 1945 he was asked to help because the pipe that the flag was connected to was very heavy and it needed 6 men to raise. He was immediately brought back to the States after the battle for Iwo Jima along with PFC Ira Hayes and Pharmacists Mate John Bradley.
The three men went on a money raising tour for the military. Gagnon returned to the fighting in China after the tour. He left the army at the end of the war and acted in two movies about the flag raising. Gagnon lived out the rest of his life in his hometown of Manchester. He died October 12, 1979 from a heart attack at the age of 54.
