AIAF Indigenous Film Vault

This biopic tells the story of Ira Hayes (Tony Curtis), a Pima Native American who helped lift the American flag over Iwo Jima, Japan. After enlisting in the Marines, Hayes suffers prejudice among his fellow soldiers but finds a friend in Jim Sorenson (James Franciscus). Both are immortalized in the famous World War II photo, but Sorenson is killed shortly after it is taken. When he returns to America, Hayes is greeted as a hero but suffers from survivor's guilt that drives him to alcoholism