i got this in a email its a good read its about Iwo Jima

scoutman · 04-13-2008, 07:51 PM

Six Boys, 13 Hands
by Bill Pederson

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.

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.

CalifgirlinOk · 04-13-2008, 08:16 PM

Thank you scoutman so much for posting this.The 13th hand was the hand of God brought a tear to my eyes.It makes a person stop and think how blessed we are to be living in this country.AGAIN -THANK YOU...!!!!

scoutman · 04-13-2008, 08:18 PM

this makes me want to serve my country

Seabeescotty · 04-13-2008, 09:28 PM

Thank you sir, for the wonderful, tearful post. Yes, I wish I could serve my country again, but they said I was too disabled to go. I went home and cried at the unfairness of life. Then my oldest son came home and scolded me some more, for even thinking about it. He said I already fought my war, and had to sit this one out. Still doesn't seem fair, but I took the lecture from that young Marine sargeant, and told him I was done trying. We on this forum are a special group of folks I am proud to call Americans. And I'm proud to be a member. Thank you again, it reminded me of a time when I stood at that very memorial, wondering what it was going to be like in Vietnam. Like Marine1 said on another thread, "Thanks for the memories".

Marine1 · 04-13-2008, 09:54 PM

Great post, Scoutman....If I may....and....I do not mean to hi-jack this thread, in the next few days, I will be posting original WW-11 photos of the February 1945 Iwo Jima Campaign, in the Military Photos Forum. I am sorting through many photos to find them for posting. I just finished the last batch of the December 7th, 1941 bombings of Pearl Harbor, and how the damaged-sunken ships were re-floated / repaired and returned to action. They were posted, today.
Photo#1: Corporal Ira Hayes Flag Raiser - Iwo Jima
Photo#2. Sgt. Mike Strank Flag Raiser - Iwo Jima (Killed in Action)
Photo#3: 4th Marine Division Cemetary - Iwo Jima
Photo#4: 5th Marine Division Cemetary - Iwo Jima

Coeloptera · 04-14-2008, 02:51 PM

True story, but only 12 hands.

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Iwo Jima Memorial

The sculptor himself said so.

But the account of the lesson to the schoolkids is apparently verifiable.

Nice to have that human touch in a national monument, really.

- Coeloptera

irish murphy · 04-14-2008, 05:02 PM

.Im always interested in articles on war.So over 7000 US soldiers died there.How many japanese died on the island?

Marine1 · 04-14-2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irish murphy

.Im always interested in articles on war.So over 7000 US soldiers died there.How many japanese died on the island?

With Some 21,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima, 20,703 died under combat conditions, or by self-inflicted suicide. There were only 216 captured as the battle raged. American forces suffered 27,909 casualties, and 6,825 were killed in action.

04-13-2008, 07:51 PM	#1
scoutman Senior Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Nebraska Posts: 194	i got this in a email its a good read its about Iwo Jima Six Boys, 13 Hands by Bill Pederson 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. 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. __________________ god made all man, but Samuel Colt made all man equal

04-13-2008, 08:16 PM	#2
CalifgirlinOk Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 2,851	Thank you scoutman so much for posting this.The 13th hand was the hand of God brought a tear to my eyes.It makes a person stop and think how blessed we are to be living in this country.AGAIN -THANK YOU...!!!! __________________ "Most of the troubles in the world is caused by people wanting to be important". T.S.Eliot

04-13-2008, 08:18 PM	#3
scoutman Senior Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Nebraska Posts: 194	this makes me want to serve my country __________________ god made all man, but Samuel Colt made all man equal

04-13-2008, 09:28 PM	#4
Seabeescotty Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Jay, Oklahoma, God's country. Posts: 4,094 Images: 18 Blog Entries: 1	Thank you sir, for the wonderful, tearful post. Yes, I wish I could serve my country again, but they said I was too disabled to go. I went home and cried at the unfairness of life. Then my oldest son came home and scolded me some more, for even thinking about it. He said I already fought my war, and had to sit this one out. Still doesn't seem fair, but I took the lecture from that young Marine sargeant, and told him I was done trying. We on this forum are a special group of folks I am proud to call Americans. And I'm proud to be a member. Thank you again, it reminded me of a time when I stood at that very memorial, wondering what it was going to be like in Vietnam. Like Marine1 said on another thread, "Thanks for the memories". __________________ Adapt, improvise, overcome.-Gysgt Highway, Heartbreak Ridge

04-14-2008, 02:51 PM	#6
Coeloptera Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 1,914	True story, but only 12 hands. Urban Legends Reference Pages: Iwo Jima Memorial The sculptor himself said so. But the account of the lesson to the schoolkids is apparently verifiable. Nice to have that human touch in a national monument, really. - Coeloptera

04-14-2008, 05:02 PM	#7
irish murphy Banned Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Canberra,Australia Posts: 1,028 Blog Entries: 5	.Im always interested in articles on war.So over 7000 US soldiers died there.How many japanese died on the island?