This is a penetrating, epic look at a generation at war, told with keen insight and enormous honesty --also a major motion picture directed by Clint Eastwood. In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima-and into history. Through a hail of machine-gun and mortar fire, they battled to the island's highest peak. And there, they raised a flag, signaling a historic step towards the eventual defeat of the Axis powers of World War II.

A powerful account of six very different men--three of which were killed in battle-- who came together in the heroic fight for the Pacific's most crucial island. It is the story of the difference between truth and myth, the legacy of a hero, and the brutal cost of war.