Must read!

[DSGB]

First off, let me say that I did not write this, so don't give me any credit.

I got it from another site and thought it was worth sharing with you folks. Read on.

A 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 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. 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.

REMINDER: Everyday you wake up free IS a great day.

[DSGB]

Re: Must read!

TTT

[Ohiobucks]

Re: Must read!

Thanks for sharing.

[ThethirdI]

Re: Must read!

Thank you...from the bottom of my Devil Dog heart. Semper Fidelis!

[archerjg]

Re: Must read!

Very good post.

Archerjg

[stevebeilgard]

Re: Must read!

great post. if my typing is off, it's cause of the blur in my eyes

[Covehnter]

Re: Must read!

incredible, thanks for sharing.

[Guest buckifan21]

Re: Must read!

thanks for sharing. wonderful story

[bulldawg]

Re: Must read!

I had a great conversation with John Bradley, in 1975, when my grandma passed away. We had the funeral at the Bradley funeral home, in Antigo. He was a very modest man, and i enjoyed the talk with him. He is probably one of the reasons I joined the Marine Corps. He had nothing but praise for the brave men that fought for that island.

Semper Fi

Tom

[c_lou]

Re: Must read!

Thanks for sharing. That was a wonderful story.