I have always liked the first flag raising picture. It captures the tension of the moment. There were a lot of Japanese still dug in on Suribachi.

See my 2013 post, "Iwo Jima Deconstructionism," in which I compile the evidence that the entire battle was fought for purposes that never were fulfilled.

Link: http://senseofevents.blogspot.com/2013/02/iwo-jima-deconstructionism.html

One example: that the island was seized to get an emergency landing strip for B-29s was a post-battle myth invented by the media. There is absolutely zero mention of that in pre-invasion planning documents. No one, before the battle, ever imagined Iwo as an emergency strip for bombers.

It was Sgt. Mike Strank's men who raised the flag in that iconic photograph. He died in combat soon thereafter.

http://tackingintothewind.blogspot.com/2006/07/independence.html

The photo that you see is the photo of the second flag being raised. The first, as stated, was small and Rosenthal made the iconic image of the larger flag.
I became two years old on that day. somethings are part of one's history.