Mike wrote:
A lot of stories came out of Iwo.

My neighbor new Joe Rosenthal pretty well (R.I.P.)

He spent years denying that he staged the second raising. The true
story is that the original flag was coveted by James Forrestal and
eventually became the property of the Group Admiral. That's why there
was a second raising.

There are actually two photographs - one of the original raising and the
second raising. The only reason why Rosenthal's became so famous is
that it was developed and sent back stateside by what was then called
"wire photo". The original was not developed and was sent stateside in
regular Army in-service mail - didn't arrive until a month after the
Rosenthal photo.

I've seen them both - the Rosenthal photo is much better.