Mount Suribachi

By the end of the day, 30,000 Marines are ashore.

Over the next three days, the fighting is intense as the Marines battle their way to the island's most visible landmark, the 550-foot volcano, Mount Suribachi.

The volcano dominates the island.

From there, the Japanese can fire on any targets below, including the all-important airfields.

It's just a quarter of a mile from the beaches, but the Marines must fight their way up the steep mountain sides.

On February the 23rd, the most iconic moment of any war is captured as Marines raise the stars and stripes on Mount Suribachi.

A different group of men are the first to raise a flag.

But it is restaged later for the benefit of a photographer, Joe Rosenthal.

Uh, the two things that they used for that bond drive were, were incorrect.

Um, the, the two hypes that they used was his eulogy, number one, and, and number two, uh, uh, the flag up atop of Mount Suribachi.

What we find out today that only one of the people that came back to the United States to sell war bonds actually raised the flag.

Sadly, uh, he was an alcoholic and they didn't do him very well, and was, was found dead with his nose in the mud one day.

Uh, in today's money it was about $450 billion that they raised.

But I, I just commented that they raised about two fraudulent topics.

Um- Sir, the, uh, all the people that put the, uh, flag up at Mount Suribachi, and the eulogy being given.

Those were the two primary topics.

And there are well-known famous photographs for every generation.

For instance, if you were the World War II generation, you can think of the U.S. flag being raised atop Mount Suribachi after the Battle of Iwo Jima.

But for my generation, a generation that grew up coming of age in 2001, it was this picture of three firemen raising the flag at Ground Zero after 9-11.

The photo called Raising the Flag was taken by the photographer named Thomas E. Franklin.

kind of things.

I'm not saying that they're like the Marines on Mount Suribachi, but I'm just saying it's, you know, back then, you know, you had these forensic odontologists who were, you know, probably used to working bite mark cases and human identification cases one at a time.

And here you are, and you can kind of see it in their eyes.

You know, they're, you know, that what they're, what they're kind of faced.

By this point, the assault elements of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions were exhausted, their combat efficiency reduced to dangerously low levels.

The thrilling sight of the American flag being raised by the 28th Marines on Mount Suribachi had occurred 10 days earlier, a lifetime on Sulphur Island.

The landing forces of the 5th Amphibious Corps had already sustained 13,000 casualties, including 3,000 dead.

The front lines were a jagged serration across Iwo's fat northern half, still in the middle of the main Japanese defenses.

Iwo Jima means sulfur island in Japanese.

As described by one Imperial Army staff officer, the place was an island of sulfur, no water, no sparrow, no swallow.

Less poetic American officers saw Iwo's resemblance to a pork chop, with the 556-foot dormant volcano Mount Suribachi dominating the narrow southern end, overlooking the only potential landing beaches.

To the north, the land rose unevenly onto Motoyama Plateau, falling off sharply along the coasts into steep cliffs and canyons.

[bell ringing] This is Joe Rosenthal, f- former photographer in the Pacific for the Associated Press.

[music] On top of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima is a monument to the men of the Corps who fought the Battle of Iwo Jima.

On this monument is engraved a quotation from Admiral Nimitz.

It says, quote, "Among the Americans who served on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue," quote.

79 knew that the combatants were Marines, and even 56 knew that this was specifically Iwo Jima.

Only two thought that it was from the American Revolution, which is a win in my book.

And yes, what it's actually capturing is six Marines raising an American flag on February 23rd, 1945, atop Mount Suribachi on the small, otherwise completely inconsequential volcanic island of Iwo Jima in the Pacific.

That is, inconsequential until the war.

They are meant to be admired.

And on the other hand, the U.S. were raising the flag of liberal empire over Mount Suribachi.

And before that occurred, that's what Elon is talking about.

That's the extreme levels of virtue that warfare brings out.

um in the class on that particular lecture and it is for forensic odontologists and they're in scrub suits they're in scrub suits and they're wearing jackets over the scrub suits like you can tell it's cold out and they've got masks on and they're all dentists and they're standing on the top of the debris field and it's one of the most surreal kind of things.

I'm not saying that they're like the Marines on Mount Suribachi, but I'm just saying it's, you know, back then, you know, you had these forensic odontologists who were, you know, probably used to working bite mark cases and human identification cases one at a time.

And here you are, and you can kind of see it in their eyes.

You know, they're, you know, what they're kind of faced with.

Thank you.

So what have I been able to do? So actually, Mark and I went and hung out at the Iwo Jima Memorial, and I was telling Charlie about it and how it was actually the second flag raised over Iwo Jima on Mount Suribachi.

And what happened was the Marines made it to the top of the hill.

They raised a small flag.