6 Boys and the 'Glories' of War

[Catwoman]

I thought maybe you all would enjoy this...I read it and thought about all of the boys...Jew, Palestinian, American, Afghani, etc...Who are in real pain this evening.  I have been thinking real hard on the topic of what side I might or might not be on...And I have come to the firm conclusion that the only side I am on is the side that will finally end the madness of our children being sent into harm's way, all because of some upper mucky-muck's religious or political persuasion.  Yes, I believe in defending my homeland from attack.  I stand behind what I said before...but I think we need to be sending all of our elected officials, world-wide, into battle first, on the first wave of the first attack....and I think you'd see a very quick end to hostilities everywhere.

"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."



(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 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 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.  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 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 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  because of someone else's
sacrifice.

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

[pam]

I thought maybe you all would enjoy this...I read it and thought about all of the boys...Jew, Palestinian, American, Afghani, etc...Who are in real pain this evening.  I have been thinking real hard on the topic of what side I might or might not be on...And I have come to the firm conclusion that the only side I am on is the side that will finally end the madness of our children being sent into harm's way, all because of some upper mucky-muck's religious or political persuasion.  Yes, I believe in defending my homeland from attack.  I stand behind what I said before...but I think we need to be sending all of our elected officials, world-wide, into battle first, on the first wave of the first attack....and I think you'd see a very quick end to hostilities everywhere.

I totally agree Catwoman. Kudos

[sixdogsmom]

Yes, we are going to pass this world on to the next generation one of these days. War after war has not made it any more safe for anybody anywhere. The effect of war on the young ones is untold; even those not in the line of fire so to speak. We now have two more wars and the children left from those wars, some in our own communities. Have they been affected for the rest of their lives? Of course they have, even those whose loved one returned intact will be affected. Anything the United States can do to promote peace in the world is worthwhile. Blessed are the peacemakers. 

[Catwoman]

The only problem with being a peacemaker is that, true to form, no good deed goes unpunished.

[sixdogsmom]

Yes, Anwar Sadat comes to mind.