Since I didn't read the book---but read his follow-on, "Flyboys"---did "Flags of Our Fathers" (the book) seem to have a lot of "moral equivalence between us and the Japanese?
Moral equivalence was not something I peceived in the book. The primary thing I got from the book was a greater awareness of the utter savagery exhibited by the Japanese. Another book that established that point for me was "The Rape of Nanking" (I have forgotten that author's name. A woman who subsequently committed suicide). Both books made me ponder why the Japanese forces were so utterly barbaric, even compared to German forces. The only conclusion I could come to was that German culture, even in the throughs of Naziism had a vestige of Christianity, whereas Japanese culture did not.
Larry, I read "Flags" and tried to read "Flyboys" but was struck - as you were - by the moral equivocating. Turns out that the author spent many years in Japan and has a Japanese wife. I thought he was a bit of an apologist for Japanese atrocities. That's where "The Great Raid" really shone.