Corrected entry: This is one of only two films John Wayne made in which John Wayne's character does not survive the movie. The other was his last role, The Shootist.
Corrected entry: When John Wayne calls in the first platoon to give them the flag to raise, the three soldiers are the actual Marine survivors of the famous flag raising. Their names: John Bradley, Ira Hayes and Rene Gagnon.
Correction: The three are not all Marines, John Bradley was a Navy Corpsman. Additionally, Marines are referred to as Marines, not soldiers.
Corrected entry: Forrest Tucker leaves two buddies one armed with a M-1 rifle which takes an 8 rd. clip the other a Browning Automatic Rifle which takes a 20 rd. box magazine to get ammo. Although both weapons are 30 06 caliber, the clips & magazines are not interchangeable. Tucker picks up bandoliers of M-1 ammo only, stops for coffee, the delay causes one buddy to be killed the other wounded. Even if he had returned promptly, the ammo would have been of no help to the BAR man.
Correction: If I remember correctly, Forrest Tucker grabs both a fist full of bandoliers and a 250 round ammo can (about the size of a womans' small purse). In either case, while not convenient, the 8 round clips in the bandoliers can be disassembled and the rounds used to reload the 20 round magazines for the BAR. So the ammo would have been of some help.
Corrected entry: There is a scene (with Sgt. Strykers face superimposed on the screen) depicting his squad (and others) undergoing training. The Marines in this scene are armed with the 30/06 1903 Springfield Bolt Action rifle. In subsequent scenes which are suppose to be during the same time period they are armed with the M-1 rifle. The training scenes are apparently stock footage taken either before or very early in the war.
Correction: The M1 came into production in 1936. Yes, many GI's were armed with 03's,due to production shortage of M1's, but don't you think that they were re-armed with the M1 after training? When I was in(Navy) bootcamp, we trained with Springfields even though they were no longer arsenal issue and the M14 was standard at that time. Why not train us with the current rifle of the time? A matter of semantics.
Correction: Absolute nonsense. He dies in The Shootist, The Cowboys, The Alamo, Sands of Iwo Jima, Wake of the Red Witch, The Fighting Seabees and Reap the Wild Wind. We don't see him die but his death is an important plot point in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. If you want to be really pedantic, very early in his career Wayne appeared in a very minor role in Central Airport as the co-pilot of an aircraft that crashes (off screen) into the ocean. That's seven definites and two possibles, certainly not "one of only two".