At 8:00 am on February 23, 1945, Lieutenant Colonel Chandler W. Johnson, the Second Battalion, 28th Marines, commander, ordered a platoon size patrol to climb up Mount Suribachi to seize and occupy the crest. Captain Dave Severance, E Company's commander, assembled the remainder of Third Platoon and other members of the battalion to form a 40-man patrol that included two Navy corpsmen and stretcher bearers. First Lieutenant Harold Schrier, E Company's executive officer, volunteered to lead the patrol. Lt. Schrier was instructed by Lt. Col. Chandler to raise the battalion's American flag on top if he could, to signal that the summit was secure. The patrol left about 8:30. Along the way up which was difficult climbing at times, there was a small number of Japanese sniper shots. When Lt. Schrier and his men reached the rim of the volcano, there was a skirmish with the Japanese which they soon overcame. After a Japanese iron water pipe was found to use as a flagpole, the battalion's flag was tied to it by Lt. Schrier, Sergeant Henry Hansen, and Corporal Charles Lindberg. Once the flag was tied on and the flagstaff taken to the highest place on the crater, the flag was raised about 10:30 by Lt. Schrier, Platoon Sergeant Ernest Thomas, Sergeant Henry Hansen, and Cpl. Lindberg. Seeing the raising of the National colors immediately caused loud cheers from the Marines, sailors, and Coast Guardsmen on the south end of Iwo Jima and from the men on the ships near the beach. Due to the terrific winds and soft ground on the mountaintop, PhM2c. John Bradley, Easy Company's, Third Platoon corpsman, pitched in with Private Phil Ward to help make the flagstaff stay vertical.