I read an article a couple months ago about how the majority of working journalists nowadays can’t identify this photograph:

So I sent it to a dear friend of mine, who is 27 and awfully smart and well-educated, to get a read on the depth of the problem.  She didn’t know it.

If the best schools in the country, which she surely attended, aren’t teaching about Iwo Jima, then I know damn well Sweet Miss ViVi and I will do a far better job at educating our boys overall.

PS — When I read Flags of Our Fathers, I decided, as a tribute to our soldiers in general, that I would always remember the names of those boys who raised that flag.  Three of them died on that godforsaken island.  They’re all gone now.

Left to right in the picture:  Private 1st Class Ira Hayes.  Private 1st Class Franklin Sousley.  Sgt. Michael Strank.  Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class John Bradley. Private 1st Class Harold Schultz.*  Private 1st Class Rene Gagnon.  Cpl. Harlon Block.  Thank you — and thanks to all our servicemen — for your sacrifice.

* Update June 2017: In 2016, amateur historians’ questions about whether John Bradley was actually in the iconic picture caused the Marines to conduct their own investigation, which concluded that Harold Schultz, not Bradley, was in the photo. I also added ranks for all the men.