1923–1955 · U.S. Marine, Gila River Pima, Iwo Jima flag raiser
Ira Hamilton Hayes was born on 12 January 1923 in Sacaton, Arizona, an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community, and enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in August 1942 — becoming, by Wikipedia’s account, the first Pima to receive his paratrooper wings. He fought on Bougainville and then on Iwo Jima with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, and was one of the six men who raised the second flag on Mount Suribachi on 23 February 1945. Fame was the part he could not survive: pulled home to sell war bonds, he spent the next decade refusing the word “hero,” and was found dead near Sacaton on 24 January 1955.