Ira Hayes is arguably Arizona’s most iconic World War II hero.
He’s one of six Marines — captured in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph — who flew the American flag atop Mount Suribachi on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima on Feb. 23, 1945.
But even his decorated legacy was caught up in the recent scrubbing of military history by the U.S. Department of Defense, which the agency deemed as DEI — an abbreviation for diversity, equity and inclusion…