CONTENTS

Maps

Introduction

PART ONE: THE INVASION

1. Corporal Richard Nummer

2. Seaman James Bush

3. Corporal James “Salty” Hathaway

4. Captain Fred Haynes

5. Corporal Hershel Woodrow “Woody” Williams

PART TWO: IRON MIKE’S POSSE

6. Corporal Glenn Buzzard

7. Private First Class Pete Santoro

8. Private First Class Domenick Tutalo

PART THREE: RUSSELL, TSO, ABBATIELLO, AND WATERHOUSE

9. Captain Gerald Russell

10. Private First Class Samuel Tso

11. Corporal Al Abbatiello

12. Private First Class Charles Waterhouse

PART FOUR: THE FLAG RAISINGS

13. Warrant Officer Norman Hatch

14. Corporal Charles “Chuck” Lindberg

PART FIVE: THE LST, WORKHORSE OF THE INVASION

15. Machinist’s Mate Third Class Perle “Dusty” Ward

16. Pharmacist’s Mate Third Class George Wahlen

17. Sergeant Cyril O’Brien

18. Sergeant Thomas Haywood McPhatter

PART SIX: THE PLANES THAT CAME

19. Lieutenant Robert Merklein

20. Staff Sergeant Valentine Chepeleff

21. Lieutenant Phil True

PART SEVEN: AFTERMATH

22. The Japanese Commanders—Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi and Captain Tsunezo Wachi—and the Years Afterward

23. Patrick Mooney and the Graves

24. Colonel John W. Ripley, USMC (Ret.)

Appendix: Military Terminology

Acknowledgments