This is supposed to be a true story, I got it off a military website. Bill
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 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 had 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 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 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 was one who 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 carried the pain home with him and
eventually 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. 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 caregiver. In Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as
they died. And when boys died in 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.
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.
PS . 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
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 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 had 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 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 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 was one who 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 carried the pain home with him and
eventually 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. 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 caregiver. In Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as
they died. And when boys died in 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.
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.
PS . 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
LCHIEN
Loring in Katy, TX USA
Comment