Preface: springtime in America
The Seventy-Eighth Fighter Squadron
A graveyard for bombers and the need for Iwo Jima
Hell rains from the skies
The Chichi Jima problem: the last impediment for the fighters
Massacre of the night fighters
The rain; and news; breaks
The Second Empire mission and the death of a president
Baseball, softball, and the southern boy from Clemson
Five hours over Chichi Jima
The blazing winds of August
Epilogue: the final salute.