Give Me Fifty Marines Not Afraid to Die: Iwo Jima

A faint glow of light in the eastern sky announced the coming dawn and the United States Marine Corps' third day of attack on the island of Iwo Jima. The chill of the morning air matched the cold that lay in the pit of my stomach. My mind worked razor sharp, the way that I suspect the mind of a cornered animal's would. I searched for any means to attack and destroy the enemy facing us. No one could pray harder than I prayed for God to show me the way to do just that. Many men in the 3rd Platoon would be wounded and killed in the next few hours. I knew it, and the men knew it. I was their platoon leader.