The Marines were woken by bombs drops very close to their position. It was their own planes mistaking them as "live Japanese." Nothing was worse than friendly fire. So Severance called the colonel on his private radio frequency and told them to radio the pilots to stop the bombing sense all their radios were damaged. As the Marines advanced up the hill killing all Japanese in their paths with specialized demolition squads like flamethrowers. Captain Inouye of the Japps cried to himself in one of the chambers under the mountain, "Suribachi's fallen...Suribachi's fallen."
Colonel Johnson picked 40 men to finish the climb to the top. Scared, but prepared, the Marines marched up single file waiting for an ambush...it never came thank god. When they got to the top they found a metal pole and put an American flag on it that one of the Marines were holding. Lietenant Schrier, Platoon Sgt. Thomas, Sgt. Hansen, and Cpl. Lindberg and a few other Marines raised the flag. The whole island erupted in cheers of their fellow allies. But that flag belonged to that battalion and Colonel Johnson wanted it back. He requested another flag to be put on the volcano. Franklin and Ira found a pole weighing about 100 pounds to use for the second flag! Mike Stanks team had the honors of raising the flag this time, while others simultaneously lowered the first flag. But nobody really paid any attention to them. I mean "after all, it was just a replacement flag," one marine said. I can't make any connections, but i would be real happy when the flag rised. I would cheer along with everyone else.
1st flag raise (but was taken down) 2nd flag raised (replacement)
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