Fwd: a tale of six boys

[Guest guest]

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. "

( 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 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 , a Pima Indian

from Arizona. Ira 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 . He had images of

horror in his mind. Ira 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 lin Sousley from

Hilltop, Kentucky. A fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. lin 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,

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 '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. 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

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 Gulf War 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.

REMINDER: Everyday you wake up free, IS a great day.