Native American veterans continue to serve in the United States military at rates that exceed their proportion of the general population.

The tradition of military service that brought Hayes to the Marines in 1942 continues.

The complications that come with that service — the question of what it means to fight for a country that has not always fulfilled its obligations to your community — also continue, though the specific context is different in every generation.

The identification controversy around the Iwo Jima flag raisers has not been fully settled, even now.

In 2016, the Marine Corps launched an extensive review of the identifications of the men in the photograph, using modern forensic and documentary evidence.