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Flags of Our Fathers is a film about the
Battle of Iwo Jima and tells the story of how the three
surviving flag-raisers were used as propaganda tools by the
United States government to lift the morale of the American
people and raise money for the war effort. It also shows the
effects of war on the veterans and how they suffered from
memories of the war for the rest of their lives.
One of the most famous photographs in history, Raising the Flag
on Iwo Jima, was taken by Joe Rosenthal at the Battle of Iwo
Jima, during the Second World War. The image shows five Marines
and one sailor raising an American flag on Mount Suribachi, and
has become an enduring symbol of American heroism.
Writer James Bradley (Thomas McCarthy) knew that his father,
John "Doc" Bradley, had served in World War II and been one of
the men who raised the American flag in the iconic photo from
Iwo Jima, and had long heard rumors that "Doc" had been some
sort of war hero. But his father never wanted to talk about his
war experiences, never owned a copy of the photograph, and
refused to answer questions about the war. Only after John
Bradley's death did James learn that his father had received the
Navy Cross for valor. This discovery led James Bradley to seek
out veterans who'd fought at Iwo Jima and ask them about what
happened, and to do some research on the other five men who
appear in the photo
In this unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous
moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured
the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the
six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story
behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the
courage and indomitable will of America.
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"John Bradley will be forever
memorialized for a few moments action at the top of
a remote Pacific mountain. We prefer to remember him
for his life. If the famous flag-raising at Iwo Jima
symbolized American patriotism and valor, Bradley's
quiet, modest nature and philanthropic efforts shine
as an example of the best of small town American
values."
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NAVY CROSS |
John Bradley returned to his home
town in the Midwest after the war, prospered as the
owner of a family business, and gave generously of
his time and money to local causes. He was married
for 47 years and had eight children.
While Bradley had a public image as a war hero, he
was a very private person. He avoided discussion of
his war record saying only that the real heros were
the men who gave their lives for their country. |
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The first flagraising atop Mount
Suribachi, February 23, 1945. Hank Hansen (without
helmet), Boots Thomas (seated), John Bradley (behind
Thomas) Phil Ward (hand visible grasping pole), Jim
Michaels (with carbine) and Chuck Lindberg (behind
Michaels).
Photo by Lou Lowery. 10AM, Feb. 23, 1945 |
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Four of the Flag Raisers (Bradley,
Hayes, Sousley & Strank) appear with their jubilant
buddies. Strank, Sousley and many of these boys
would soon be dead. |
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Ira Hayes on his Way Home
Ira Hamilton Hayes (January 12, 1923 – January 24,
1955) was a full blood Akimel O’odham, or Pima
Indian, and an enrolled member of the Gila River
Indian Community. A survivor of World War II Battle
of Iwo Jima, Hayes was trained as a Paramarine in
the United States Marine Corps (USMC), and became
one of five Marines, along with a US Navy corpsman,
immortalized in the iconic photograph of the flag
raising on Iwo Jima.
The son of Joe E. and Nancy W. Hayes, Ira Hayes was
born on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Sacaton,
Arizona. Hayes left school in 1942 to enlist in the
Marines. Trained as a paratrooper, he was nicknamed
Chief Falling Cloud. After boot camp, Hayes was sent
to the Pacific. He participated in the battle for
the island of Iwo Jima, and was among the group of
Marines that took Mount Suribachi four days later.
The raising of the second American flag on the
mountain by five Marines and a Navy Corpsman was
immortalized by photographer Joe Rosenthal and
became an icon of the war. Overnight, Hayes (who
appears on the far left of the photograph) became a
national hero, along with the two other survivors of
the famous photograph, Rene Gagnon and John Bradley.
Hayes's story drew particular attention because he
was Native American.
Hayes was promoted to the rank of corporal before
being discharged from the Marine Corps. His
decorations and medals include the Commendation
Ribbon with "V" combat device, Presidential Unit
Citation with one star (for Iwo Jima),
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four stars (for
Vella Lavella, Bougainville, Consolidation of the
Northern Solomons, and Iwo Jima), American Campaign
Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.
On January 24, 1955, Hayes was found dead near an
abandoned hut close to his home on the Gila River
Indian Reservation. He had been drinking and playing
cards with several other men, including his brothers
Kenny and Vernon, and another fellow Pima Indian
named Henry Setoyant. The coroner concluded that
Hayes' death was due to exposure and too much
alcohol. However, his brother Kenny remained
convinced that it somehow resulted from a scuffle
with Setoyant. Ira Hayes was 32.
Hayes is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. A
few hundred yards away he is imortalized in the
Marine Corps. War Memorial Monument dedicated to all
U.S. Marines who have fallen in battle |
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Here's the second flag raising as
seen in the the most reproduced photograph in the
history of photography. |
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In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo
Jima--and into history. Through a hail of machine-gun and mortar
fire that left the beaches strewn with comrades, they battled to
the island's highest peak. And after climbing through a
landscape of hell itself, they raised a flag.
Now the son of one of the flag raisers has written a powerful
account of six very different men who came together in a moment
that will live forever.
To his family, John Bradley never spoke of the photograph or the
war. But after his death at age seventy, his family discovered
closed boxes of letters and photos. In Flags of Our Fathers,
James Bradley draws on those documents to retrace the lives of
his father and the men of his Company. Following these men's
paths to Iwo Jima, James Bradley has written a classic story of
the heroic battle for the Pacific's most crucial island--an
island riddled with Japanese tunnels and 22,000 fanatic
defenders who would fight to the last man.
But perhaps the most interesting part of the story is what
happened after the victory. The men in the photo--three were
killed during the battle--were proclaimed heroes and flown home,
to become reluctant symbols. For two of them, the adulation was
shattering. Only James Bradley's father truly survived,
displaying no copy of the famous photograph in his home, telling
his son only: "The real heroes of Iwo Jima were the guys who
didn't come back."
Few books have ever captured the complexity and furor of war and
its aftermath as well as Flags of Our Fathers. A penetrating,
epic look at a generation at war, this is history told with keen
insight, enormous honesty, and the passion of a son paying
homage to his father. It is the story of the difference between
truth and myth, the meaning of being a hero, and the essence of
the human experience of war.
In 2000, Bradley published Flags of Our Fathers, which tells the
story of five U.S. Marines and his own Navy corpsman father,
John Bradley, raising the American flag during the Battle of Iwo
Jima. In that book, which was made into a film, directed by
Clint Eastwood, Bradley took great care to actually locate and
speak with family and friends who actually knew the men
depicted. In doing this, he received great praise for his
realistic portrayals and bringing the characters to life. The
book and the film goes in depth about the men, and their
war-time service. Of the six men, Bradley's father John, PFC Ira
Hayes, and PFC Rene Gagnon were the only ones to survive the
battle. SGT Michael Strank, CPL Harlon Block, and PFC Franklin
Sousley were all killed in action later on in the battle. The
book and film tell the story in a before, during and after
format, and both were well received upon their release. An
impromptu speech Bradley gave at the Iwo Jima memorial was
transcribed by Michael T. Powers in October 2000, and widely
circulated on the Internet.[1]
In 2003 he published Flyboys: A True Story of Courage. That book
tells the story of an air raid that took place during the Battle
of Iwo Jima, some 150 miles away, when U.S. warplanes bombed the
small communications outpost on Chichi Jima. While Iwo Jima had
Japanese forces numbering 22,000, Chichi Jima's forces numbered
25,000.
Nine crewmen survived after being shot down in the raid. One was
picked up by the American submarine USS Finback. That one man
was then-Lieutenant George H. W. Bush, who later went to become
the forty-first President of the United States. The other eight
were captured as POWs by the Japanese and were executed and
eaten, a fact that remained hidden until much later. Like Flags
of Our Fathers, Flyboys: A True Story of Courage also topped the
New York Times Bestseller list when it came out.
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IWO JIMA TODAY
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Written in February of 1945
by Thomas D. Ginefra
Sergeant Of Marines
The soul of Suribachi ever gloats,
But high atop her summit floats,
Emblazoned emblem for all the world to see.
Iwo Jima, bastion of an Eastern World,
Falls to planters of a Western flag unfurled.
On high, sea beacon beckoning on captured crest,
To crippled war birds coming home to rest.
Below with bloodied bayonets,
with guts and guns,
Incredible Marines stormed, stood, and won.
Bold, beribboned builders of a corps,
Heroes rich in combat-colored lore;
Spoke with spouting guns and belching flame,
'Neath sands of glory now, a legendary name, MARINE.
Pacific Atolls - Stepping stones to victory.
Islands of the Rising Sun,
Vanquished, shambles in defeat and destiny,
Relentless warriors, "A job well done."
Add more of battle scenes, more accolades,
More flags unfurled - still more of peaceful scenes.
Symbols of a fighting man, and a sacrifice supreme.
The bugle notes echo, in a wind that's chilled.
Red sunset, gray ash, white cross of the stilled.
This sky, star-filled tonight, our fortress dome,
Our new tomorrow's hope... we're going home. |
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