The controversy is about the photo. The famous photo is a reenactment of the actual event.
No, it is not. That is a myth.
A smaller flag was first placed atop Surbachi. 
Later, a much larger flag was raised. It was this second flag raising which was captured in the famous photo. 
The photographer, Rosenthal, was asked if the photo was staged. He thought the question was in reference to a photo with Marines posing in front of the flag, as said it was. 
This is where the "controversy" comes from.
It was not a reenactment. It was raising a larger flag that could be seen all over the island and out at sea. There is a perfectly good movie film from USMC fotog who went up with first group. There was no still foto of the first raising. Joe Rosenthal took the picture of the second flag with a Speed Graphic still camera. He admits the actual foto was luck as he snapped the shutter during the raising. The flag was not raised for any sort of photo op. The guys who raised the first flag got shortchanged by history, but three of the Marines in Rosenthal's foto died on Iwo. To call what they did a reenactment is insulting.
That's not quite correct. The event was real, and several of the men in it died later in the fighting on Iwo Jima. What it is not is a photo of the first flag raising on Mt. Suribachi. A smaller flag was raised first, but it could not be easily seen from the beaches or elsewhere on the Island. Thus the second larger flag was ordered to be raised. There was also a thing about the Secretary of the Navy wanting the original flag as a souvenir, but before that could happen, the order to replace the flag, and secure the original for the battalion, was issued.
True. A friend's wife's father was at the first, small flag ceremony. He's the fellow in the baseball style hat..
Incorrect. That is a myth perpetuated by ignorant souls like yourself.
