Thursday, November 12, 2026

Question: Which Marine from the Gila River Indian Community helped raise the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima in the famous 1945 photograph?

Answer: Ira Hayes. An Akimel O’odham (Pima) Marine born in Sacaton in 1923, he was one of six men who raised the second U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945, a moment captured in Joe Rosenthal’s photograph. Educated on the reservation and at Phoenix Indian School, Hayes was inducted into the Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame in 2001.