You're the 19-Year-Old Marine Who Landed on Iwo Jima (1945)

For an hour, nobody shoots at you. That's what scares you most. On 19 February 1945 a 19-year-old farm boy from Kentucky lies in the black volcanic ash of Iwo Jima while thousands of Marines pile onto the beach, and 21,000 Japanese soldiers wait in eleven miles of tunnels for the beach to fill. Four days later he is one of the six men in the most famous photograph of the war. Three of those six never leave the island. This is the story of PFC Franklin Sousley, Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, told in the second person: the farm in Fleming County, the landing, the silence, the guns opening up, Mount Suribachi, the flag, and the 36 days that cost nearly 7,000 American lives. A dramatization based on the historical record: the big facts (dates, units, numbers, the flag raisings) follow the sources; some scenes, thoughts and words are imagined. Was Iwo Jima worth what it cost? Tell me in the comments. Sources: USMC History Division; National WWII Museum; Naval History and Heritage Command; Wikipedia ("Battle of Iwo Jima", "Franklin Sousley"); Kentucky Historical Society marker "Iwo Jima Hero". #IwoJima #WW2 #historyanimation