Chapter Eleven: The Flags Summary and Analysis

After four days of viscous battle, Suribachi stood silent before the Marines. A small exploratory group of soldiers that scrambled to the top of the volcano mountain found no enemy soldiers and took no enemy fire. Colonel Johnson then ordered that a platoon be sent to the top of Suribachi. Among those who were dispatched were Mike, Harlon, Franklin, Ira and Doc. Lieutenant H. George Schrier was named the leader of the probe. Just before he departed, Johnson handed Schrier a small American Flag from the USS Missoula. It was small, measuring only fifty-four by twenty-eight inches.

A sergeant named Louis Lowery, a photographer for Leatherneck magazine, accompanied the forty-man unit that ascended the mountain. Those on the ground watched with great concern, almost certain that Japanese soldiers awaited the group just over the rise...