Thomas Daschle: “every American knows this photograph. It is one of the great iconic images of American courage and determination: the…”

“every American knows this photograph. It is one of the great iconic images of American courage and determination: the Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima. What many Americans probably do not know is that one of the six Marines in this photo was a Native American. His name was Ira Hayes. He was a full-blooded Pima Indian, raised on a small farm on the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. Raising the flag with Ira Hayes that day on Iwo Jima were: a coal miner's son from Pennsylvania who came to America as an infant from Czechoslovakia; a farm boy from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas; a mill worker's son from New Hampshire; a former altar boy from Wisconsin, and a poor kid from eastern Kentucky. One writer has called this photo 'a triumphant metaphor for the very soul of the (Marine) Corps.' It is also something else. It is a reflection of every war our Nation has ever fought. In every major military conflict in our Nation's history, Indians have fought side-by-side with non-Indians. Native Americans served with honor and distinction in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. They served on both sides in the Civil War. Stand Watie, a Cherokee, was the last Confederate brigadier general to surrender to the Union troops. And Eli Parker, a Seneca from New York, was at Appomattox, serving as an aide to General Ulysses S. Grant when Robert E. Lee surrendered.”