19-year-old Donald Graves was part of the 5th Marine Division, a member of the 28th Regiment, 2nd Battalion, D company.

Here to tell his story is acclaimed actor Robert Patrick.

-My buddies and I were in a car listening to big band music.

This was December 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor.

And an announcer comes on and says, "We interrupt this broadcast for the president of the United States."

I'll never forget that speech.

It's the greatest one I ever heard.

A date that will live in infamy.

I said right then, "Fellas, I'm skipping school tomorrow.

I'm gonna join the Marine Corps."

And that's what I did.

Patriotism was drilled into me and my brother and sister.

At boot camp in San Diego, they knocked all the nonsense out of us.

One day, the captain says, "Congratulations, Graves, you're gonna be the company flamethrower."

I told the skipper I was too short.

"That's why I picked you," he said.

"You'll make less of a target."

Those gas tanks weighed 72 pounds with 5 gallons of fuel.

They were good for maybe 15 seconds, if you were lucky.

And you had to be lucky.

Because the life expectancy of a flamethrower in combat was about 4 minutes.

Nobody ever heard the name Iwo Jima.

We didn't have any idea where we were going.

The morning we landed, they served us steak and eggs for chow.

And all that time I've been in the Corps, I'd never even seen a steak.

"Hey, buddy," I asked, "what's with the steak and eggs?"

The guy laughed.

"Use your head, Graves.

What do they give convicts for their last meal?"

I went ashore in the third wave.

The Japanese let the first two battalions go right across the neck to make us think that it won't be so bad.

And then the mortars hit, came in thick and heavy.

Direct hits on all three landing craft.

They just blew apart with all our buddies in them.

That was it.

Gone.

There were so many Marines piled up, we couldn't get to shore.

The boatsman shouted, "Overboard!"

and a couple of guys threw me in the water, and then they dragged me with them.

And I heard the screaming and the yelling and the rockets.

And I saw the Marine bodies floating in the water, lying on the ground, elbow to elbow.

You couldn't tell who was alive or dead.

I lay on my face in the black sand and did something for the first time in my life.

I prayed to God.

I said, "I don't know you much.

I never went to church.

But if you could do what people say you can do and get me off this island, I'll serve you the rest of my life."

They killed 2,500 of us on that beach.

We had to keep moving.

Our job was to get on Mount Suribachi, stop the firepower, secure the airfields.

From the top tier of the beach to the base of the mountain was only 900 yards.

It took us three days to get there.

We fought our way up inch by inch.

The Japanese rained grenades down on us from their caves, and we couldn't throw anything back because it would roll right back on you.

You couldn't sleep, or you'd wake up with a bayonet stuck in you.

When we made it to the top, some of our guys were putting up the flag tied to a drainpipe.

Every ship out in the water let go with their horns.

Tracer fire lit up the sky like the 4th of July.

It made the Japanese mad as hell.

We secured Suribachi and kept moving.

Hill 362A was the next objective, near the airstrips.

They shot us to pieces, and we lost nearly our whole battalion there -- all our officers and most of our sergeants.

But we kept fighting.

I was in a foxhole with two machine-gun spotters when the company commander radios in to be on the lookout for snipers.

I looked through the glasses.

I couldn't see anything.

The commander said, "You got a replacement coming."

10 minutes later, this kid showed up, and I gave him the glasses.

We were talking Marine talk when the kid's head snapped back.

His helmet flew off and landed at my feet.

I looked down and I saw a picture of a beautiful girl with a baby on her lap, all splattered with blood.

Something in me snapped.

I threw off my flamethrower and cursed.

I cursed Iwo Jima, and I cursed the Corps, I cursed God for letting that kid take my place.

I didn't understand, I -- I couldn't understand.

300 Marines and -- 335 Marines in my company went into battle on Iwo Jima, and 18 of us came out.

We lost 7,000 kids on that island.

20,000 more were shot up and taken off.

♪♪ I saw the first B-29 land on Iwo Jima, and that's why we had to take that island, so the B-29s could make it all the way to Japan.

If we hadn't taken Iwo, it wouldn't have happened.

The day before we boarded the transports back to Pearl Harbor, we marched one by one through the cemetery to say goodbye to our buddies and our officers.

And there was a paper tacked up to the archway.

And every Marine read it.

And the paper said, "Fellas, when you go home, tell the folks we did our best, that they may have many more tomorrows."

I remembered the promise I made on that beach, and for 35 years, I worked as a minister in churches, rescue missions, and jails because of that promise.

I'm proud to be a Marine.

I wouldn't be anything else.

I love my country.

I love that flag.

Think of where we would be right now if we hadn't answered the call and fought those battles.

Memorial Day is the time for all of America to come together and honor the sacrifice of those who gave the last full measure of their devotion.

Semper fi.

♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Applause continues ]