Thank you for this post. I read James Bradley's book "Flags of Our
Father's" and the whole book is like this, full of small stories and wisdom
about what really went on and what it meant to the Marines and their
families.
My brief review is on this page in the WW II section:
http://www.olive-drab.com/od_books.php3
Chuck
www.olive-drab.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Barber" <rbarber41@hotmail.com>
To: <mil-veh@uller.skylee.com>; <MVlist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 9:10 AM
Subject: [MVlist] Fwd: A Memorial Day weekend remembrance worth reading.
>
>
> Passed on from a friend.. Pause for a moment this weekend to
> remember those that did not come back..
> >
> >
> >
> >An interesting story below that makes you pause and consider the real
> >
> >meaning of Memorial Day. Hope you all have a safe and enjoyable
> >
> >holiday.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >The Boys of Iwo Jima
> >
> >
> >
> > Each year I am hired to go to Washington DC with
> >
> > the eight 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 had
> >
> > 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, DC. 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 Father's" 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 Pema 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 Epson 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 7000 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 none-the-less.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >--- Corky Towle
> >
> >--- corky1747@earthlink.net
> >
> >--- EarthLink: It's your Internet.
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 23:18:39 PDT