Each year I am hired to go to Washington, DC with the eight
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 Cheeshead 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 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 Father's" 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, "We pushed 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 Epson
salts. You know what happened. 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, because 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 Iwo 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 none-the-less.
|