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Story of Encouragement
A Tribute
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 cheesehead, too! Come gather around Cheeseheads, and
I will tell you a story." (James Bradley just happened to be in
Washington, DC, to speak a 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 on 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 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 Sgt. 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
until1994, 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.
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 at
someone else's sacrifice.
God Bless!
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