One Friday in late August, I attended the United States Marine Corps Evening Parade with an unusual guest, a retired judge and combat veteran from Alexandria, La., named George M. “Judge” Foote. He is 90 but has the disposition of a 40-year-old: trim, funny, and totally aware. Sixty-five years ago, he survived the Battle of Iwo Jima. The veterans of that campaign, their number dwindling every day, assume mythic status within the Corps because their sacrifice was so much, the carnage so horrific.