Narrative 1
“Man this mountain is big.” Harlon said as we slowly crept up the war-torn surface of Mt. Suribachi. “Quiet down and stay low, we've lost too many people already” Sgt. Strank said. And he had a point. We had been fired on so heavily when we came ashore, it's a wonder any of us were alive. The Japanese were embedded underground, they could see us, but we couldn't see them. Many more people would have died had Strank not seen the movement of guns on the mountain. He was a great guy, always thinking of other before himself. He knew the value of teamwork. He had trained us in boot camp, and gave his lessons us lectures on the importance of working together often. And how right his teachings were. If not for these guys, I'd be dead, they've pulled me out of a lot of close calls, and I owe them. As we continued to creep up the mountain- side, we were all fearing that at any moment we could we would be ambushed. A reporter and a photographer had come with us. Wanted to get some heroic shots for the papers, I guess. We had to get up this mountain and plant our flag, to show the other guys that we had the high point of the island. I guess it would make a good picture. As we neared the final few feet to the top of the mountain, Strank had us stop. He peered over the small ledge than ran up on the peak. He motioned for us to follow. We carried the large, brass flagpole up onto the small ledge. “On three” Bradley, another Sergeant, said. “1...2....3!” we all said at once and at once strained to get the heavy thing up. It weighed a lot, but many hands make light work, and soon enough we had set up the Stars and Stripes high over the island. Even from our high points we could hear the cheers and whoops from our friends down below. We heard our men and we knew that together we could take on anything. And we would succeed through blood, sweat, and teamwork.