how is this process begun in these early chapters of the book?

As James Bradley recalls his feelings after reading the letter his father wrote from Iwo Jima, he uses the technique of rhetorical questions. Here, they express his curiosity about the other flag raisers. There exist answers to these questions, and the book represents those answers. However, the rhetorical questions he poses later in the book often remain unanswered, intended only as introductions to more questions for the reader. Later in Chapter 1 as Bradley remembers exploring Iwo Jima with his family members, he wonders, "What must it have been like to crouch in that blockhouse and watch the American armada materialize offshore?"

James Bradley often mixes past and present in one sentence. As his mother, Betty, walks across the beach at Iwo Jima as an elderly woman, he imagines her as a young girl, the way she was when she first met his father, John. Throughout the book, Bradley often creates a feeling of timelessness by tying together images of the present and past. This technique also suggests nostalgia. He himself is a vessel of past emotion as he stands at the top of Mt. Suribachi, feeling invigorated as his father must have when he wrote that letter home to his parents.