IN: Ira Hayes was born in Sacaton, Arizona, a town in the Gila River Indian Community in Pinal County. He was the eldest of six children born to Nancy Hamilton (1901-1972) and Joseph Hayes (1887-1978). The Hayes children were: Ira (1923-1955), Harold (1924-1925), Arlene (1926-1929), Leonard (1927-1952), Vernon (1929-1958), and Kenneth (born 1931). Joseph Hayes was a World War

The 5th Marine Division landed on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. Hayes's Second Platoon, Easy Company, 2/28 Marines, landed on the southern beach near Mount Suribachi off of the USS Talledega after transferring from the USS Missoula. On February 23, Marines from the Third Platoon of Easy Company, 2/28 Marines, captured and raised an American flag on top of Mount Suribachi at approximately 10:30 a.m. In the early afternoon, Hayes's squad leader, Sergeant Michael Strank, was ordered to take three Marines from his rifle squad in Second Platoon, Easy Company, to bring supplies up Mount Suribachi and raise a larger flag on the summit. Strank chose Corporal Harlon Block, Private First Class Franklin Sousley, and Hayes for the patrol. Marine Private First Class Rene Gagnon, a battalion runner for Easy Company, was ordered up the mountain with the replacement flag. The four Marines together with Gagnon and Private First Class Harold Schultz (Navy corpsman John Bradley was misidentified as a flag-raiser until June 23, 2016), raised the second flag attached onto another steel pipe found by Hayes and Sousley, while at the same time the smaller flag came down. Schultz from Third Platoon, was part of the original 40-man patrol that climbed up Mount Suribachi. On March 14, another American flag was officially raised at Marine headquarters at the base of Mount Suribachi to signal the Marine occupied Iwo Jima, and the flag on top of Mount Suribachi that Hayes helped to raise there was taken down. Hayes fought on the island until it was secure on March 26, and left Iwo Jima with his unit on March 27. Easy Company had many casualties, Hayes was one of five Marines remaining from his platoon of forty-five men including their corpsmen. The raising of the second American flag on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945 was immortalized by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal and became an icon of the world war. Soon afterwards, the two surviving flag-raisers Hayes and Gagnon, and Bradley who was believed to be in Rosenthal's photograph, became national heroes. Harlon Block who was killed in action on Iwo Jima in March 1945, was misidentified as being Sergeant Henry Hansen from Third Platoon, Easy Company who was also killed in action. Hayes had attempted to correct the misrepresentation of his friend Block for Hansen (Hansen helped raise the first flag) in April 1945, but was silenced by a Marine Corps officer in Washington, D.C. who was placed in charge of the flag-raisers.

What else did you find interesting about this?

OUT: Hayes had attempted to correct the misrepresentation of his friend Block for Hansen (Hansen helped raise the first flag) in April 1945,

IN: REO Speedwagon (originally styled as R.E.O. Speedwagon) is an American rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial success throughout the 1980s. Hi Infidelity (1980) contained four US Top 40 hits and is the group's best-selling album, with over ten million copies sold. Over the course of its career, the band has sold more than 40 million records and has charted thirteen Top 40 hits, including the number ones "

By the late 1980s, the band's popularity was starting to decline. Alan Gratzer left in September 1988 after he decided to retire from music to open a restaurant. In early 1989, Gary Richrath quit after tensions between him and Kevin Cronin boiled over. Cronin had been playing in The Strolling Dudes, a jazz ensemble that included jazz trumpet player Rick Braun (who had co-written the abovementioned "Here With Me" with Cronin), Miles Joseph on lead guitar and Graham Lear on drums. Lear had already been invited to join REO in September 1988 as Gratzer's successor and Joseph was brought in as a temporary stand-in for Richrath. Back up singers Carla Day and Melanie Jackson were also added. This lineup did only one show, on January 7, 1989 in Vina del Mar, Chile, where it won the award for best group at the city's annual International Song Festival. After that, Miles Joseph and the back up singers were dropped in favor of former Ted Nugent guitarist Dave Amato (who was brought aboard in May 1989) and keyboardist/songwriter/producer Jesse Harms. The 1990 release The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken, with Bryan Hitt (formerly of Wang Chung) on drums, was a commercial disappointment. The album produced only one, and - to date - the band's last Billboard Hot 100 single, "Love Is a Rock," which peaked at #65. Harms, disenchanted by the album's failure, left the group in early 1991. Shortly after his departure, Richrath assembled former members of the Midwestern band Vancouver to form a namesake band, Richrath. After touring for several years, the Richrath band released Only the Strong Survive in 1992 on the GNP Crescendo label. Richrath (the band) continued to perform for several years before disbanding in the late 1990s. In September 1998, Gary Richrath briefly joined REO onstage at the County Fair in Los Angeles to play on band's encore song, "157 Riverside Avenue". He then joined REO once again in Los Angeles in May 2000 for the same encore but no serious plans for a reunion ever materialized. Having lost their recording contract with Epic, REO Speedwagon ended up releasing Building the Bridge (1996) on the Priority/Rhythm Safari label. When that label went bankrupt, the album was released on Castle Records, which also experienced financial troubles. REO Speedwagon ultimately self-financed this effort, which failed to chart. The title track did make R&R's AC Top 30 chart.

any interesting aspects

OUT:
Lear had already been invited to join REO in September 1988