Jacob B - It is the Medal of Honor, Congress has nothing to do with it, and Ira Hayes didn't have one that I know of. Still a sad end.

The other piece is that there wasn't a battle for Suribachi. The Japanese pulled out and consolidated on the other end of the island after the initial landings. The original flag was carried by Marine Rene Gascon, one of the flag raisers, and was ordered lowered by the Marine commander as he knew it was a valuable piece of history. He had another squad take a larger flag up that had been removed from one of the ships off shore. The second flag raising wasn't staged, some of the after shots were, but was done to preserve the original flag and place a larger one in its place. Both raisings were done on the same day.

The original raising was watched and cheered by the whole contingent on the island. Most thought it was the end of the battle. A month later the Japanese were eliminated, destroyed nearly to the man, by the invading forces.

You all really need to read the book "Flags of Our Fathers." Steve