Flags of our fathers.

There are six people in the picture. Harlon, Jack, Franklin, Ira, Mike, and Rene. They are totally different people. They are all brought together by the Marines. They were in the same company, Easy company. They were deployed to Iwo Jima, all with the same mission. To kill the Japs. Jack is a Navy Corpsman for Easy Company. Ira, Franklin, and Harlon are privates. Rene is a Headquarters man, and Mike is a Sargent. Mike is the only one that was in the Marines before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He is a leader and everybody looks up to him. Ira is a Pima Indian who is very quiet. Harlon is a big guy who in-listed into the Marines with his high school football team. Jack in-listed to the Navy to avoid ground combat. That is something his grandfather told him when he was a boy. But joining the marines put Jack right in the worst of the battle. Rene is a nice guy who did not really fit in with the rest of the guys. He was raised only by his mother because his parents divorced. He was good looking though, so all the guys took him to bars to bring in the ladies.

All of these men were brought together to raise the flag for different reasons. Mike, Ira, Harlon, and Franklin were in the division that went up Mount Suribachi to help cover the 1st division that was already up there. Rene was told to run up a phone line to the top of the mountain and take up a replacement flag. So he did that. Jack went up with another division as their corpsman. Mike was ordered to put up the replacement flag. He grabbed a heavy pole and a few guys to help put it up. Jack was standing near by and saw a few guys struggling with a heavy pole. So he stepped in. Joe Rosenthaw took a picture that would become forever famous in America.