Flags of Our Fathers

Corpsman!

Corpsman!

Corpsman!

For God's sakes! Corpsman!

Corpsman!

Corpsman!

What's wrong?

Every jackass thinks he knows what war is.

Especially those who have never been in one.

We like things nice and simple:

Good and evil, heroes and villains.

There's always plenty of both.

Most of the time, they are not who we think they are.

Where is he?

Where is he?

Where, where is he?

Mr. Bradley?

Mr. B? You okay?

- Where is he? - Where is who?

Where is he? Where did he go? Where, where is he?

All right. Just stay right here, okay?

I'm gonna call an ambulance. It'll be okay.

Where is he?

Most guys I knew would never talk about what happened over there.

Probably because they're still trying to forget about it.

They certainly didn't think of themselves as heroes.

They died without glory.

Nobody has taken their pictures.

Only their buddies knew what they did.

I'd tell their folks they died for their country.

I'm not sure that was it.

Now, there were plenty other photos taken that day...

but none anybody wanted to see.

What we see and do in war...

the cruelty, is unbelievable.

But somehow we gotta make some sense of it.

To do that, we need an easy-to-understand truth...

and damn few words.

Film's ruined.

I don't know. This one looks all right.

And if you can get a picture...

Now, the right picture can win or lose a war.

You're gonna want to see this.

Look at Vietnam.

The picture of that South Vietnamese officer...

blowing that fella's brains out of the side of his head.

That was it.

The war was lost.

We just hung around trying to pretend it wasn't.

Took a lot of other pictures that day. None of them made a difference.

Thanks. Appreciate it.

Sounds ridiculous, but it happened.

Country was bankrupt.

People were becoming cynical and tired of war.

- Oh, my Lord, that's Harlon! - Where?

Right there. Planting that flag, that's your brother.

Ma, all you can see is his behind.

And that's his. I powdered and diapered it, I know my son.

That's him. Go get your father.

Daddy, Ma's got a picture of Harlon's keister in the paper.

You watch your mouth, young man.

Thank you.

One photo, almost all on its own, turned that around.

It's on the front page of every major paper.

Over 200 dailies and they're all flooded with requests for prints.

I think we might have found it.

Corpsman!

Corpsman!

Corpsman!

- I gotta go get him. - Oh, no, you don't.

Iggy, I gotta go.

I have a whole different theory. He wants medical attention, he'll come to us.

Hey, shut up and crawl over here, you lazy son of a bitch!

- As soon as that flare goes out. - Crap.

- Okay, well, I'll go with you. - No.

- You're gonna leave me here? - I'll be right back, just...

Shoot some people. I gotta go.

Oh, God.

Okay, it's okay.

Don't touch them.

Get your hands out, let me do that. Don't look.

Keep your head back, your eyes on me.

Look at me. I'll get it. I'll take care of it.

We'll get this bandage on you. We'll get you taken care of.

And we'll get you down to the bottom, all right?

You're gonna be fine.

It's okay.

I'll do that. I'll do that.

Put some pressure on that. Put your hands on top and put pressure on it.

Keep your head back. Keep breathing.

Keep looking at me, all right? Just keep looking at...

Doc.

Help me.

Help me.

How does that feel?

- It feels good. - It does? All right.

- Good. - All right.

I'm gonna go get a stretcher. I'll be right back.

I'm all right.

Go and help someone who's hurt.

All right. Hold on there.

- Where did he go? - Who?

- The guy who was right here, Ignatowski. - You jumped in the wrong hole.

I didn't jump in the wrong hole! He was right here, now where the hell is he?

Iggy!

Iggy!

Shut up. You want every Jap shooting at us?

Iggy!

Holy shit.

They expect us to climb this?

Or something just like it.

So where you think they're sending us?

I think it's the desert, Franklin.

Well, that makes no sense at all.

Well, it's just military psychology.

They always train you for the desert on a volcano.

Now you're just having fun with me.

Harlon, take your men right. Watch for Bedouins.

- What's a Bedouin? - It's a guy with a camel.

Well, jeez Louise, maybe we are going to the desert.

Now, you tilt that to the right, but what if the bullet comes from the left?

Bullets don't come from the left. You know any left-handed Japs?

That makes as much sense as you showering with your shoes on.

You don't even know why you do it, do you?

Because I don't tell you mean I don't know?

You do it because Mike does it.

I'll ask him.

- So you cut hair back home? - Some.

Training to be a barber, are you, Doc?

No, I just studied it a little.

- But not in barber school? - Nope.

Let me guess, Hayes is winning.

Chief, I had very little to do with Sitting Bull's death...

80 maybe you could stop taking it out on me.

Different tribe. The Pimas fought on the side of the white man.

- See, now that's smart. - That is smart.

Yeah. Worked real good for us.

Good luck, fellas.

Hey, good night, Lindberg.

Dead bodies. He cuts hair on dead bodies.

Even I knew that.

- Who's in? - Oh, I'm in.

It must be a lot easier with them not moving around and all.

There's that.

You know what I been thinking?

Well, they been telling us we need to buddy up...

and I think we'd make pretty good buddies.

And how do you figure that?

Well, you know, in that we have a lot in common.

So why do you cut dead people's hair, anyway?

I'm studying to work in a funeral home.

You tell a lot of people that?

You actually chose the Marines because they got the best uniform?

No sense being a hero if you don't look like one.

Jacks.

Queens.

Shit.

Do anything on that reservation but play cards, chief?

All right, listen up, you sorry bunch of leathernecks!

We going over the side tomorrow which means we ain't long for this rock.

- All right! - About time.

Any man who doesn't have his masturbation papers in order...

get them signed by tomorrow or he ain't going.

- I got mine already. - Oh, yeah. I'm square.

Wait. Why am I just hearing about this?

I don't have to repeat everything twice for you.

No, I didn't hear nothing about no masturbating papers.

Heard they were running short.

You know, nobody tells me nothing. That's real nice, guys.

All right, get over to the officer in charge of records. Maybe he's got more.

- Leave your smokes. I'll play for you. - Thanks, Mike.

Listen, he calls you an idiot, you take it like a man, okay?

Just do not leave without signing them.

- I appreciate it, sergeant. - You got it.

What the hell happened to your hair, Rene?

Look like a goddamn corpse.

Three points of contact on that rope at all times.

Next four. Over the side.

Let's go. Keep moving.

Next four, over the side.

Keep your eye on the guy below you. That's all you gotta look at.

Watch me, Doc, just watch me.

Keep three points of contact on the rope at all times.

You see? No big thing.

Just one step at a time and keep your hands on the vertical rope.

Once you're in the boat, move away.

Make sure you keep three points of contact on the rope.

- I got him! - All right, get that man out of the water.

Give me a hand.

- Don't worry about him, Doc. - All right, quit skylarking! Keep moving.

He'll be fine.

Our target, Island X...

is an ugly, smelly, dirty little scab of rock called Iwo Jima.

It means Sulfur Island, which accounts for the smell.

Looks sort of like a burnt pork chop, you ask me.

After 20 straight days of bombing you won't find a blade of grass...

or a twig on it. It wasn't that pretty to start with.

Captain?

Iwo's just five and a half miles long, two and a half wide.

There's a lump down at the bottom. That's Mount Suribachi.