"Like Hell With The Fire Out"

22 pages
Other did not know, but the real battle was about to begin. Easy Company's mission was to join with the rest of the 28th Regiment and advance onto the northern plateau. This doesn't sound good...They had to cross rough exposed ground while hidden Japps shot at them once again. For those of you that are reading this, there are many men that i mention that die that i probably have never discussed about because there was just to much to say about every other man earlier in the book. So be prepared if this is one huge post lol. Too many people died and i want to get as many as i can on this blog.

Mike Stanks squad was running when Jappanese snipers popped out and fired at them. They took cover and as Mike was telling them about a way to escape....but was cut down by friendly fire. It was a U.S Navy Destroyer that was bombing the area! Sgt Strank, one of the best and bravest leaders was now dead. He was just doing his job i guess, trying to find a way to save "his boys." Harlon took Mikes place and was now the squad leader. The battle continued and the Regiment was pinned down once again. Jack Bradley, nicknamed "Doc," was trying to heal Hank Hansen when Tex Hipps saved Bradley's life by yelling, "Watch out Bradley! Banzai charge!" and killed the Japps. But sadly Hank Hansen died in Bradley's arms. Suddenly Harlon explodes from an enemy grenade. Poor guy was cut in two. The next day, Colonel Johnson who wanted the original flag to be returned was blown to bits, followed by the death of Sgt. Thomas who led the push up Suribachi. The next day haunted Jack Bradley. The squad found Ralph Ignatowski, Bradley's best friend in the war, dead. In my opinion this is probably put him into shock and silence for the rest of his life. Chick Robeson got hit and Bradley got him evacuated from the island. As days when on, Jack Bradley's time in the war came to an end as a mortar round hit in the area and gave him  shrapnel wound along with Sam Trussel. Bradley was evacuated soon after. Franklin Sousley was shot in the back by a sniper on some road and died a couple seconds later. Tex Stanton had his feet blown off and was evacuated from the island. About a week later, Easy Company was done on Iwo Jima with only 50 survivors. Iwo Jima was America's bloodiest, but most heroic battle.

Truthfully, words cannot describe how i feel about any of this. Depressing? Sad? Stunned? Nope, non of these words come close. But i do know that these Marines went through so much Hell on this island. The survivors were probably wondering how they did it...