The slivers of metal catch the sunlight and move slightly in the breeze. Carter, L, Cpl has left one behind, hanging on its chain over the peeling white monument. So too have Chavez, K, Sgt, and Harmer, G, Pfc. Each of the dogtags may have a different name, rank and number, but all are punched with the letters USMC.
To the men of the US Marine Corps, this place is the holy of holies. Hundreds of marines have left their unique calling cards draped over a memorial that is at the peak of Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima and marks the spot where their predecessors in the corps raised the Stars and Stripes on February 23, 1945, a moment captured most famously by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal.
The 169-metre peak dominates the island and, most importantly for the Japanese defenders of 61 years ago, the invasion beach where more than 71,000 US troops came ashore.
The US commanders expected Japanese resistance to end within four days. Instead, it took the marines almost four weeks - and 28,000 casualties, including 6,821 dead - before the fanatical defenders were overcome.
Of the 21,000 Japanese fighters, only 1,023 were taken alive.
However, after the second world war, Iwo Jima returned to being an unimportant volcanic rock in the Pacific, 1,250km from Tokyo and on the way to nowhere.