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So what is the point of this very odd article? That flag-raising involves heroism? That somehow the first set of Marines that raised their flag on a piece of pipe were greater heroes than the second set of Marines (and one Navy corpsman) - that had a better picture taken of them? Remember that of those six, three were dead before the battle to take Iwo was over.

There is always some clown out there that secondguesses the accounts of the battle or the tactics, or some other aspect - but you'll note that the aforementioned clown wasn't anywhere near the battle itself.

The tone and intent of the writers as well as their political bent is best captured by the backhanded slap at the heroes of the Vietnam War: "...a faith now so distressingly contradicted by the 58,180 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.". No offense to the poster, but those 58,180 fallen Marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen and coastguardsmen were and are heroes and no second-guesser that wastes his/her time over "which flag raising at an epic battle was more heroic" should try to taint their memory.