Retired marine whose troops planted US flag on Iwo Jima dies

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The retired U.S. Marine colonel whose troops were the first to plant a U.S. flag over the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during World War II has died. Dave Severance was 102. Severance died Monday at his home in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla. On Feb. 23, 1945 about 40 members of Severance’s company were sent up Mount Suribachi with orders to plant the flag. A short time later, another group was sent up with a second flag to replace the first. That was photographed by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal who won a Pulitzer Prize.