Iwo Jima
Author Unknown

Each year I am hired to go to Washington, DC, with the eighth grade class from
Clinton, Wl, where I grew up, to videotape their trip. I greatly enjoy visiting our
nation's capital, 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 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. 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. 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 two 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 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 at someone else's sacrifice. God Bless