A Tale of Six Boys

[Curlywoods]

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 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 19years 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 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 heart felt 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. STOP and thank God for being alive and being free at 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.

TAKE CARE AND RIDE SAFE
Debbie Krause
Assistant Membership Director

[twoodward15]

Holy crap Mike.  That was awesome.  I wish I had been there that day with you.  I sit here thinking about what they went through, and waht we as soldiers go through now.  It is totally incomprehensible.  When we go someplace now and I want to talk to people I just pull out my trusty cell phone and dial someones number.  Yes, it works anywhere in the world.  These guys went out there and had noone to talk to.  They couldn't call home to say goodbye.  Someone had to tell their family that they were no more.  We get on airplanes and fly around the world in a matter of hours.  We complain that it takes to long to get home to see our families.  These guys had it rough.  If and when they did get off the island to go home they waited weeks to see their family.  They were cold, they were hungry, they were lonely.  My Father-in-law was in the Navy during WWII.  I wish he would tell me some stories about it.  he's 85 now.  There isn't much time left to honor any of the WWII vets.  If we could here their stories and pass them along to our own children then they could see that it wasn't all glory.  It was blood, sweat, and tears that were left on that island and many other "islands" that made this country what it is today.  I'm afraid it'll all be lost in a matter of a few years.  We've got it pretty good today. 

    Now, if anyone wonders why some people join the military I can only ask you to watch the movie "Blach Hawk Down"  towards the very end a man explains why he's "in".  It's one of the best explanations ever, and I would imagine it holds true for a lot of GI's. 
    Thank you , Mike, for posting this.  It really made my day.

[TexasTimbers]

It puts into perspective alot of things. If it doesn't I think maybe your priorities need re-prioritizing. Thanks for sharing that with us Mike.

[IL Bull]

Thanks curlywoods.  What a great bit of history.
Joe

[junkyard]

My dad was one of the I guess luckey ones. He came back from ww1 80% disabled. He is my hero. My heartfelt  thanks to all of the men and women who served
                        Junkyard

[sawguy21]

Mike, I am in tears after reading that. My uncle talked to me about some of his experiences in Belgium during WWII for the first time last winter. He is alone now and had kept it bottled up all those years. I remember a great uncle who was disabled after being gassed at Ypres. Those of us who missed combat will never know what these people went through.

[ely]

i have a friend who was in germany, and he is different than both my uncles. i think effects people differently. my friend will not speak much of his war stories much past ackowleging he was indeed there. my uncles were very freely giving with their stories and liked to watch the history programs on the subject. i understand both views and respect them greatly for all that has been given. thank you for sharing that with us it it very moving,at least to me anyway. i have never had anything to do with the miltary in my life.

[thedeeredude]

All I can say is WOW.  An awesome story indeed.  7,000 American soldiers died in one battle :(  Thank God for those guys.

[JimBuis]

Curlywoods,

Thank you!  Freedom isn't free.  My uncle was a medic on a hospital ship during WWII.  My older brother was in Vietnam, wounded twice.  I was in the Air Force for ten years, but was never in battle.  My son was in the Army, is now 40% disabled although not from battle wounds.

Although, I never went into combat, my peers and I were prepared to if called upon.  That is the key to the strength of our military.  We have had an all volunteer force since about 1973. We are there by choice and we are ready.

I am not in the military any longer.  I will always be grateful for our young men and women who are willing to serve.

God bless America,
Jim

[scsmith42]

Mike - very powerful post - thanks for sharing.  My dad spent 4-1/2 years in the south pacific in WWII as a land based naval aircraft mechanic.  He does not speak about his experiences very often, other than to state that the circumstances that they existed in were fairly harsh.

The other posts are also strong and well worth reading.

Regards,

Scott

[Woodwalker]

Thank you for posting this. Too many people are forgetting who and why.