A faint glow of light in the eastern sky announced the coming dawn and the United States Marine Corps' third day of attack on the island of Iwo Jima. The chill of the morning air matched the cold that lay in the pit of my stomach. My mind worked razor sharp, the way that I suspect the mind of a cornered animal's would. I searched for any means to attack and destroy the enemy facing us. No one could pray harder than I prayed for God to show me the way to do just that. Many men in the 3rd Platoon would be wounded and killed in the next few hours. I knew it, and the men knew it. I was their platoon leader. Lt. John Keith Wells USMCR commanded the most decorated Infantry Platoon to come out of a single engagement in the history of the United States as Platoon Leader of the 3rd Platoon, Easy Company, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division. He was born in North Texas in 1922, Lt. Wells attended Texas A&M College military school in agriculture & military science in the horse cavalry from January 1940 to December 1942. He joined the Marine Corps as 12 March 1942 and prepared himself for Officer Candidate Class the following summer. The class was full and he joined the second officer's class to ever attend Private Boot Camp at Parris Island, South Carolina prior to Officer's School st Quantico, Virginia. After World War II, January 1946, he entered Texas Tech College, Lubbock, Texas, and obtained a degree in Petroleum Geology the summer of 1948. He works in that field today. In 1959, Lt. Wells was honorary retired United States Marine Corps Reserve as a Major. Lt. Wells was given the second highest medal the Marine Corps gives for bravery & leading his men in battle - the Navy Cross.