John Basilone trains Marines at Camp Pendleton and makes the acquaintance of the beautiful Sergeant Lena Mae Riggi. Later, the battle at Iwo Jima rages.
Tropes:
- The Casanova: Lena says she saw John enter a restaurant with a blonde starlet, then later leave it with a brunette starlet. From earlier episodes, we can guess this is true.
- A Day in the Limelight: Aside from an opening with Sledge and Snafu, the entire episode is about John's experiences.
- A Father to His Men: John clearly gives a crap about his men and takes pains to train them as well as possible.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: John and Lena get married relatively quickly, since neither know how certain the future is but like each other.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Defied. John's sacrifice is definitely heroic, because he didn't have to be there. But his death itself doesn't look especially cool; he's gunned down while trying to make another position.
- This is basically true of the actual John's death. Accounts conflict on whether he was shot down or hit with a mortar, but either way it wasn't the heroic Last Stand we're accustomed to seeing.
- Honor Before Reason: John re-enlists because he wants to keep serving his country.
- Killed Off for Real: John, tragically.
- Old Maid: Lena mentions that she hadn't expected to get married for a while, since she's 30+ years old.
- You Can Leave Your Hat On: A shockingly romantic variation. Lena asks John to disrobe so she can look at him for a second.
