The flag raising on Iwo Jima was not staged; this is a myth that won't seem to go away. Read James Bradley's recent and moving book "Flags of Our Fathers," about the six (I think) men in that famous photo. Bradley's father was one of them. The book also explains the source of the myth. There were two flag raisings. The first went unrecorded on film, although a couple of staged photos were taken of that flag after the fact. The second flag raising occurred to replace the original flag with a larger one, so it could be better seen from a distance. That flag raising was recorded by both a motion picture camera and a still camera. The still photo that became famous was one of those amazingly lucky taken-at-just-the-right-second shots. It was most definitely not staged. There was a native American in the group; he just happened to be among the group that was there at the time. Half of the men who raised the flag never walked off the island. The irony of the flag raisings was that the first flag raising raised cheers all over the island and on the ships offshore, while the second flag raising went virtually unnoticed until the photograph of it was published. David Romanowski Exhibits Writer-Editor National Air and Space Museum ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).