INDIANA-L Archives
Archiver > INDIANA > 2003-07 > 1058624544
From: "Carole Eve" <>
Subject: Re: [INDIANA] STORY OF GUYS WHO RAISED FLAG ON IWO JIMA
Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2003 09:36:44 -0700
References: <c6.1ffe4659.2c49e9d4@aol.com>
I can't thank you enough for sharing this letter with us. I finished the
letter with tears in my eyes but also with great pride and thankfulness to
those who gave their all so we could live in freedom.
Carolyn, a former Kentuckian
> This just came in today from a friend in KY. It is so touching better get
a
> tissue handy, I needed one. BJ
>
> Each year I am hired to go to Washington, DC, with the eighth grade class
> from Clinton, WI. where I grew up, to videotape their trip. I greatly
enjoy
> visiting our nation's capitol, and each year I take some special memories
back with
> me. This fall's trip was especially memorable.
>
> On the last night of our trip, we stopped at the Iwo Jima memorial. This
> memorial is the largest bronze statue in the world and depicts one of the
most
> famous photographs in history -- that of the six brave soldiers raising
the
> American Flag at the top of a rocky hill on the island of Iwo Jima, Japan,
during
> WW II.
>
> Over one hundred students and chaperones piled off the buses and headed
> towards the memorial. I noticed a solitary figure at the base of the
statue, and as
> I got closer he asked, "Where are you guys from?"
>
> I told him that we were from Wisconsin. "Hey, I'm a cheesehead, too! Come
> gather around, Cheeseheads, and I will tell you a story."
>
> (James Bradley just happened to be in Washington, DC, to speak at the
> memorial the following day. He was there that night to say good night to
his dad, who
> has since passed away. He was just about to leave when he saw the buses
pull
> up. I videotaped him as he spoke to us, and received his permission to
share
> what he said from my videotape. It is one thing to tour the incredible
> monuments filled with history in Washington, D.C., but it is quite another
to get the
> kind of insight we received that night.)
>
> When all had gathered around, he reverently began to speak. (Here are his
> words that night.)
>
> "My name is James Bradley and I'm from Antigo, Wisconsin. My dad is on
that
> statue, and I just wrote a book called "Flags of Our Fathers" which is #5
on
> the New York Times Best Seller list right now. It is the story of the six
boys
> you see behind me.
>
> "Six boys raised the flag. The first guy putting the pole in the ground is
> Harlon Block. Harlon was an all-state football player. He enlisted in the
Marine
> Corps with all the senior members of his football team. They were off to
play
> another type of game. A game called "War." But it didn't turn out to be a
> game.
>
> Harlon, at the age of 21, died with his intestines in his hands. I don't
say
> that to gross you out, I say that because there are generals who stand in
> front of this statue and talk about the glory of war. You guys need to
know that
> most of the boys in Iwo Jima were 17, 18, and 19 years old.
>
> (He pointed to the statue) "You see this next guy? That's Rene Gagnon from
> New Hampshire. If you took Rene's helmet off at the moment this photo was
taken
> and looked in the webbing of that helmet, you would find a photograph ...
a
> photograph of his girlfriend. Rene put that in there for protection
because he
> was scared. He was 18 years old. Boys won the battle of Iwo Jima. Boys.
Not old
> men.
>
> "The next guy here, the third guy in this tableau, was sergeant Mike
Strank.
> Mike is my hero. He was the hero of all these guys. They called him the
"old
> man" because he was so old. He was already 24. When Mike would motivate
his
> boys in training camp, he didn't say, 'Let's go kill some Japanese' or
'Let's die
> for our country.' He knew he was talking to little boys. Instead he would
> say, 'You do what I say, and I'll get you home to your mothers.'
>
> "The last guy on this side of the statue is Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian from
> Arizona. Ira Hayes walked off Iwo Jima. He went into the White House with
my dad.
> President Truman told him, 'You're a hero.' He told reporters, 'How can I
> feel like a hero when 250 of my buddies hit the island with me and only 27
of us
> walked off alive?' So you take your class at school, 250 of you spending a
> year together having fun, doing everything together. Then all 250 of you
hit the
> beach, but only 27 of your classmates walk off alive. That was Ira Hayes.
He
> had images of horror in his mind. Ira Hayes died dead drunk, face down at
the
> age of 32 ... ten years after this picture was taken.
>
> "The next guy, going around the statue, is Franklin Sousley from Hilltop,
> Kentucky. A fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. His best friend, who is now 70, told
me,
> 'Yeah, you know, we took two cows up on the porch of the Hilltop General
Store.
> Then we strung wire across the stairs so the cows couldn't get down. Then
we
> fed them Epsom salts. Those cows crapped all night.' Yes, he was a
fun-lovin'
> hillbilly boy. Franklin died on Iwo Jima at the age of 19. When the
telegram
> came to tell his mother that he was dead, it went to the Hilltop General
Store.
> A barefoot boy ran that telegram up to his mother's farm. The neighbors
could
> hear her scream all night and into the morning. The neighbors lived a
quarter
> of a mile away.
>
> "The next guy, as we continue to go around the statue, is my dad, John
> Bradley from Antigo, Wisconsin, where I was raised. My dad lived until
1994, but he
> would never give interviews. When Walter Cronkite's producers, or the New
York
> Times would call, we were trained as little kids to say, 'No, I'm sorry,
sir,
> my dad's not here. He is in Canada fishing. No, there is no phone there,
sir.
> No, we don't know when he is coming back.' My dad never fished or even
went
> to Canada. Usually, he was sitting there right at the table eating his
> Campbell's soup. But we had to tell the press that he was out fishing. He
didn't want
> to talk to the press.
>
> "You see, my dad didn't see himself as a hero. Everyone thinks these guys
are
> heroes, 'cause they are in a photo and a monument. My dad knew better. He
was
> a medic. John Bradley from Wisconsin was a caregiver. In Iwo Jima he
probably
> held over 200 boys as they died. And when boys died in Iwo Jima, they
writhed
> and screamed in pain.
>
> "When I was a little boy, my third grade teacher told me that my dad was a
> hero. When I went home and told my dad that, he looked at me and said, 'I
want
> you always to remember that the heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who did
not
> come back. Did NOT come back.'
>
> "So that's the story about six nice young boys. Three died on Iwo Jima,
and
> three came back as national heroes. Overall, 7,000 boys died on Iwo Jima
in the
> worst battle in the history of the Marine Corps. My voice is giving out,
so I
> will end here. Thank you for your time."
>
> Suddenly, the monument wasn't just a big old piece of metal with a flag
> sticking out of the top. It came to life before our eyes with the
heartfelt words
> of a son who did indeed have a father who was a hero. Maybe not a hero for
the
> reasons most people would believe, but a hero nonetheless.
>
> We need to remember that God created this vast and glorious world for us
to
> live in, freely, but also at great sacrifice. Let us never forget from the
> revolutionary War to the Gulf War and all the wars in-between that
sacrifice was
> made for our freedom.
>
> Remember to pray praises for this great country of ours and also pray for
> those still in murderous unrest around the world. STOP and thank God for
being
> alive and being free at someone else's sacrifice. God Bless.
>
> REMINDER: Everyday that you can wake up free, it's going to be a great day
>
>
> KC (~,~) BJ (@@)--
> SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY
> SEEKING OUR ANCESTORS
> MAY HE WHO MADE US WATCH OVER YOU AND YOURS!
>
>
> ==== INDIANA Mailing List ====
> Firstmom's Genealogy Resources - Indiana
> http://khuish.tripod.com/indiana.htm
>
> ==============================
> To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records,
go to:
> http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237
>
>
This thread: