This is a story of a teacher from Wisconsin and his students visit to the Iwo
Jima Memorial.
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.'
It was James Bradley who 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 , 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 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 photograph
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 of them who lived to walk 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, drowned in a very shallow puddle, 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. Those 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 combat caregiver. On
Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died. And when boys died on 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...please
pray for our troops.
Remember to pray praises for this great country of ours and also ......please
pray for our troops still in murderous places around the world.
STOP and thank God for being alive and being free due to someone else's
sacrifice.
God Bless You and God Bless America ...
REMINDER: Everyday that you can wake up free, it's going to be a great day.
Jima Memorial.
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.'
It was James Bradley who 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 , 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 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 photograph
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 of them who lived to walk 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, drowned in a very shallow puddle, 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. Those 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 combat caregiver. On
Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died. And when boys died on 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...please
pray for our troops.
Remember to pray praises for this great country of ours and also ......please
pray for our troops still in murderous places around the world.
STOP and thank God for being alive and being free due to someone else's
sacrifice.
God Bless You and God Bless America ...
REMINDER: Everyday that you can wake up free, it's going to be a great day.
