What’s ironic is the image that is widely circulated was a ‘parody’ itself. The original flag raising was with a smaller flag, and later they wanted it filmed/photographed with a larger flag.
As I recall the first photo of the Marines was a gung ho photo and was sent back to the States before developing. When the editor called and asked if it was staged Joe Rosenthal said yes. That made for mistaken report that the famous one was staged. The editor and Joe were talking about two different flags and photos. The first flag was taken down to save it from being confiscated by an Admiral from off-shore and Rosenthal took the famous photo as a fleeting after thought.
Yes, my friend and neighbor ``Bernie`` Schryer was one of the ones who helped raise the smaller flag first.
Revisonist history perpetuated by the ignorant.