Quotes from the Movie Flags of Our Fathers

People on the street corners, they looked at this picture and they took hope. Don't ask me why, I think it's a crappy picture, myself. You can't even see your faces! But it said we can win this war, are winning this war, we just need you to dig a little deeper. They want to give us that money. No, they want to give it to you.

Bud Gerber

The what? The real... the real flag? There's a real flag?

Bud Gerber

Am I the only one getting a headache here? You know about this?

Bud Gerber

Aw, that's it, that's beautiful. Yeah, that's beautiful. Yeah, why tell me? I'm only the guy that has to explain it to a hundred and fifty million Americans. Who is in the goddamn picture? Are any of you guys in the goddamn picture?

Bud Gerber

Six guys raising a flag over Iwo Jima. Victory is ours. You're three of them, right?

Bud Gerber

Well, what'd you do, raise a goddamn flag every time you stopped for lunch?

Bud Gerber

Hey, it took a lot of talented folks a long time to make that thing. Just wait till tonight when it's lit properly and there's thousands of cheering people in the stands, it's gonna look a lot better. So, stadium lights come down, spotlight comes up, you get your cue, you charge up this thing with the flag, you plant it at the top. You smile, you wave, you know the drill.

Bud Gerber

Hey, that's showbiz. And try to stand how you stood the first time you planted it. Just, you know, pretend the other three guys are with you.

Bud Gerber

This isn't just any island to them. This isn't Tarawa, Guam, Tinian, or Saipan. This is Japanese soil, sacred ground. Twelve thousand Japanese defenders in eight square miles, they will not leave politely, gentlemen! It's up to us to convince them.

Captain David Severance

Nobody even noticed that second flag going up. Everybody saw that damn picture and made up their own story about it. But your dad and the others knew what they had done, and what they had not done. All your friends dying, it's hard enough to be called a hero for saving somebody's life. But for putting up a pole?

Captain David Severance

Corpsman! Corpsman! Corpsman! Corpsman! For God sakes, corpsman! Corpsman! Corpsman!

Soldiers

Our target, Island X, is an ugly, smelly, dirty little scab of rock called Iwo Jima. It means "Sulfur Island," which accounts for the smell. Looks sort of like a burnt pork chop if you ask me. After twenty straight days of bombing, you won't find a blade of grass or a twig on it. It wasn't that pretty to start with.

Colonel Chandler Johnson

I finally came to the conclusion that he maybe he was right. Maybe there's no such thing as heroes. Maybe there are just people like my dad. I finally came to understand why they were so uncomfortable being called heroes. Heroes are something we create, something we need. It's a way for us to understand what's almost incomprehensible, how people could sacrifice so much for us, but for my dad and these men, the risks they took, the wounds they suffered, they did that for their buddies. They may have fought for their country but they died for their friends. For the man in front, for the man beside him, and if we wish to truly honor these men we should remember them the way they really were, the way my dad remembered them.

James Bradley

You actually chose the Marines because they had the best uniforms?

Lundsford

No sense being a hero if you don't look like one.

Rene Gagnon