Steve Frazier
02-22-2005, 08:58 PM
Wednesday, February 23 is the 60th anniversary of the battle at Iwo Jima. A friend sent me an e-mail with a description of the men who raised the flag there, it's very moving and shows just how much we owe to the servicemen who put their lives on the line in the name of our Country.
"Tale of Six Boys"
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
cheese head, too!
Come gather around, Cheese heads, 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 be! ach, 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. 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 on 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.
REMINDER: Everyday you wake up free, IS a great
day.
Wednesday, February 23 is the 60th anniversary of
the raising of the flag on that bloody island. Pause a
moment that day, to remember....
"Tale of Six Boys"
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
cheese head, too!
Come gather around, Cheese heads, 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 be! ach, 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. 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 on 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.
REMINDER: Everyday you wake up free, IS a great
day.
Wednesday, February 23 is the 60th anniversary of
the raising of the flag on that bloody island. Pause a
moment that day, to remember....