I was in the Marine Corps and stationed at Iwakuni, Japan, on the day that happened. I remember the photo of Rick Monday grabbing the flag was in the Stars And Stripes the next day. Man, we loved it. Rick is a former Marine too and that made it better.
I was fortunate enough to attend 7 days of the Great Flag Burning Debates in Washington D.C. back in 1990. Oddly enough, this occured while I was enroute to study mathematics at Moscow State University.