"Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue"

The USS North Carolina, USS Washington and USS West Virginia began firing 16 inch guns at a small island in the Pacific Ocean. That was on February 19, 1945 and it was the beginning of the Battle of Iwo Jima. On February 23, 1945, Joe Rosenthal snapped the famous photograph "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima."

That was 65 years ago today. Six men climbed Mount Suribachi to raise Old Glory; five were United States Marines and John Bradley was a Navy Corpsman.
Here are the men that lifted the American Flag on Mount Suribachi:

Mike Strank b. 1919 Jarabenia, Czechoslovakia, d. 1945 Iwo Jima
Harlon Block b. 1924 Yorktown, Texas, d. 1945 Iwo Jima
Franklin Sousley b. 1925 Hilltop, Kentucky, d. 1945 Iwo Jima
Ira Hayes b. 1923 Sacaton, Arizona, d. 1955 Bapchule, Arizona
Rene Gagnon b. 1925 Manchester, N.H., d. 1979 Manchester, N.H.
John Bradley b. 1923 Antigo, Wisconsin, d. 1994 Antigo, Wisconsin

"Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue."
—Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz

Semper Fi,

Mike Piccione