As we made our way inland from the landing beaches we came across trails of spent shell casings. You could literally follow the path of individual Marines, and see how they fought their way off the beaches and began to move towards their objectives such as Mount Suribachi, Motoyama #1 (the main Japanese airfield), and the cliffs of the East Boat Basin. The Marines landed into an inverted “U” trap, to where the Japanese held the high ground on both the left and right flanks, and was dug-in all along, and behind the runways.