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SIX
BOYS AND THIRTEEN HANDS
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 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 cheese head, too! Come gather around, Cheese heads,
and I will tell you a story.'
It was James Bradley (author and son of John Bradley who until circa
2016 was identified as one of the six who raised the flag) 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 died. 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 wrote a book called 'Flags of Our Fathers'. 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
did not turn out to be a game. Harlon, at the age of 21, died with
his intestines in his hands. I do not 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 did not 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 could not 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.
One thing I learned while on tour with my 8th grade students in DC that
is not mentioned here is that if you look at the statue very closely and
count the number of 'hands' raising the flag, there are 13. When the man
who made the statue was asked why there were 13, he simply said the 13th
hand was the hand of God.
Great story - worth your time - worth every American's time. Please pass
it on.
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