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"A U.S. flag was first raised atop Mount Suribachi soon after the mountaintop was captured at around 10:20 on February 23, 1945. Lieutenant Colonel Chandler Johnson, the battalion commander of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division, ordered the commander of Easy Company to send a platoon to capture the summit of the mountain. 1Lt. Harold G. Schrier, executive officer of Easy Company, volunteered to lead a 40-man combat patrol up the mountain (he replaced the wounded Third Platoon commander). Lt. Schrier assembled the patrol at 8 am to begin the climb up the mountain. Lt. Col. Johnson (or the battalion adjutant) handed Schrier a flag saying, "If you get to the top put it up." The 2nd battalion adjutant whose job it was to carry the flag had taken the 54-by-28-inch (140-by-71-centimeter) flag from the battalion's transport ship, the USS Missoula, to Iwo Jima. Lt. Schrier successfully led the combat patrol to the top. The flag was attached to a pipe, and the flagstaff was raised by Lt. Schrier assisted by his platoon sergeant."

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