[Rhodes22-list] Sorry! Iwo Jima background

[Jay Friedland]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Jay Friedland <a.jayf@verizon.net>
> Date: Fri Feb 7, 2003  1:44:36 PM America/New_York
> To: The list <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] (no subject)
> Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
>
> Just received this,worth a good read...
>
> "Anybody got Sean Penn's and Woody Harrelson's email addresses?"
>
>
> If you haven't read James Bradley's book, it is well worth your =
effort.
> There are more than a few places that will effect you the same way =
this
> email should.  Enjoy.
>
> A little history to think about for all you war-mongers out there.
>
>
> The text below was posted on The Hive. Well worth your time. What to =

> you
> think Sean, Woody, and Barbra would have to say about these military
> warmongers?
>
> 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 
> E-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 he 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 cheesehead, too! Come gather around
> Cheeseheads, and I will tell you a story," (This man was Mr. James 
> Bradley,
> 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
> 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 of us 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 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, 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
> 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.
>
> "Let her and falsehood grapple.
> Who ever knew truth put to worse
> in a free and open encounter."
>                         =
                  John Milton, "Areopagitica"
>
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