I recently watched a show on combat photographers......35 combat photographers hit the beach d-day at Iwo Jima......Hayes actually was a US Marine. The flag raising was five US Marines and a Navy Corpsman. Also. he did raise the flag on Suribachi, the thing about the picture is..thats not the actual flag raising, its the second bigger flag being raised. Hayes died of alcoholism and freezing. after drinking he passed out outside in Jan 55 (i think) and just died. For more USMC knowledge visit your recruiters office today! hahah
EDIT: attached is the photo of the first flag raising.
Haven't seen that shit for awhile