Ira Hayes

[b]Ira Hamilton Hayes[/b] (January 12, 1923 – January 24, 1955) was a Pima American Indian and a US Marine,. who was one of the six flag raisers immortalized in the iconic photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima. He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on August 26, 1942, and after recruit training, volunteered to become a Paramarine. He fought in the Bougainville and Iwo Jima campaigns in the Pacific Theatre.. On February 23, 1945, he helped to raise an American flag over Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, an event photographed by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press. Hayes and the other five flag-raisers became national heroes as a result.