[SAMWolf]

Thanks DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet.

This young man had a girl he wanted to marry, a career he wanted to pursue, and he gave it all up when he CHOSE to stay with his buddies on Iwo Jima.

Something a lot of people seem to forget.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

In James Bradley's book Flags of Our Fathers, he talks about how one of the flag-raisers (one of the three that were KIA on Iwo Jima) had "never kissed a girl".

So many things in that book impacted me. That particular passage opened my eyes to how young those guys really were.

He had never kissed a girl. He died for his country before he ever had that simple life experience. That hurt to read.