[Captain Rhino]

Wasn't Iwo the place where "Uncommon valor was a common commodity?"

IIRC, the phrase is "Uncommon valor was a common virtue."

I agree with your remarks on the iconic nature of the photograph. While the image is unique to the Marine Corps, I have always seen it as a triumphal assertion of Allied victory over fascism. In a similar vein is the photograph of Soviet flag being raised over the bullet and shell-pocked Reichstag.

[ClearCase_guy]

Thanks for the quote correction.

It's sort of ironic that the US flag going up has only the Heavens in the background. The Soviet flag raising you refer to has a totally devastated urban background.

Due to the difference in Theaters, it really couldn't be any other way -- but still it seems to hint at something inherent in the promise of the West and the self-destructive tendencies of Socialism.