Ira Hamilton Hayes was a Pima Native American and a United States Marine who was one of the six flag raisers immortalized in the iconic photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima during World War II at the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Hayes became the first Pima in history to receive his paratrooper wings and was given the nickname “Chief Falling Cloud” upon his graduation from the U.S. Marine Corps paratrooper school.

In November of 1954, the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial was unveiled at a dedication ceremony in Washington, D.C.

President Dwight Eisenhower praised Hayes as “a national war hero.”

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