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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | I think this is an awesome story.
Too good not to pass on!
"Six Boys And Thirteen Hands..."
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 W isconsin "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
had 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 people 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 - and it was so
hard that the ones who did make it home never even would talk to their families
about it.
(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
photo-graph of his girlfriend. Rene put that in there for protection because he
was scared. He was 18 years old. It was just boys who 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 was one who 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 carried the
pain home with him and eventually 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, KY. 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. Th ose 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, like Ira Hayes, 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, without any medication or help with the 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 current War on Terrorism
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.
God Bless You and God Bless America
REMINDER: Everyday that you can wake up free, it's going to be a great day.
PS . One thing I learned while on tour with my 8th grade students in DC that is
not mentioned here is that if you look at the statue very closely and count the
number of "hands" raising the flag, there are 13. When the man who made the
statue was asked why there were 13, he simply said the 13th hand was the hand
of God.
Great story - worth your time - worth every American's time! | |
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Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 1138
Location: CT | Very nice. Thank you for sharing that. | |
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Joined:
October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | excellent story, mike! mahalo nui loa. | |
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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | wow | |
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Joined:
June 2003
Posts: 1792
Location: Rego Park, NY, | Thank you | |
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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | GGG.. I printed your story.
My kids will read it... and my co-workers & friends will read it. | |
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Joined:
November 2006
Posts: 2241
Location: Simpsonville, SC | Thanks Mike! | |
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Joined:
September 2004
Posts: 1180
Location: Vermont USA | Thanks Mike we need to be reminded often.
Pauly | |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 5567
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | Thanks Mike. My dad lost his best friend on Iwo...Dad went ashore on Okinawa in the third wave...he spent 110 days there and lived to tell about it...problem is, he never really talked about it...he had pictures and he had the scars from being wounded by shrapnel twice...he would not let anyone put him in for the Purple heart because he said there were others who really merited it. My Dad, the Marine turned Minister, took me to the door of the Induction Center in Richmond VA in January of 1972 to enter the Marine Corps...Vietnam suddenly came off of the TV and turned into reality for my family and I.
We take entirely too much for granted in the United States...We should be giving thanks for being able to stand in the morning on two good feet and take a deep breath!
Many, Many Veterans cannot! It is because of their sacrifice that we can!
You can be in disagreement with the Government; that’s a choice we have in America…but never forget the men and women who have paid for those rights and others with their bodies and lives…make sure you take a moment to walk up to them and say “Thank You”!
Thanks for reminding us Mike!
:rolleyes: | |
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Joined:
July 2006
Posts: 95
Location: St Louis | My 16 year old son is in the ROTC program at his High School and wants to join the Marines. I will take this home for him to read. Thanks. | |
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Awesome Story