: Between battles, Stryker’s vulnerability is revealed. He is an alcoholic struggling with the loss of his wife and son, a personal pain that he masks with his tough exterior. The Final Assault on Iwo Jima
: Private Peter Conway, a college graduate and son of Stryker’s former commanding officer, resents Stryker’s harshness and sees him as a "cold-hearted sadist". Sands of Iwo Jima
In the classic 1949 film Sands of Iwo Jima , the story follows a squad of green Marine recruits as they are molded into a disciplined fighting force by their battle-hardened and widely despised leader, Sergeant John M. Stryker (John Wayne) . From Training to Tarawa : Between battles, Stryker’s vulnerability is revealed