# FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS (Book Review)



## Danjanou (19 Nov 2006)

It is probably one of the most well known photographs of the Second World War ever taken, six men struggling to raise the Stars and Stripes over a barren mountaintop on an island in the Pacific Ocean. The photo galvanized a war weary nation to make the final effort, the final push to ultimate victory. The island was Iwo Jima and the mountain, Suribachi. Who were the faceless men in the picture, they have gone down as icons and legends but in the end they were just ordinary men. 

Growing up in post war middle America James Bradley knew vaguely that his father John Bradley was one of the men in the picture, a veteran of the horrific Iwo Jima battle. However he did not know any details, the subject of the war, Iwo Jima and the famous photo were never discussed in the Bradley household. After his father passed away James Bradley set out to discover the story behind the picture, the story of his father. 

*Flags of Our Father’s* is that story, the tale of six average American young men from different parts of the country who eventually found themselves on a wind swept summit in February 1945 and became forever part of history. 

The battled for Iwo Jima started on February 16, 1945 and ended over a month later on March 26th. It was one of the bloodiest battles in the Second World War. Over 77,000 marines fought on the island and over 6,000 were killed and a further 20,000 wounded. 
Of the 20,000 Japanese defenders 18,000 were killed. All of this for an island barely 8 square miles in size. 

Bradley quickly surmises the lives of his father John Bradley and the other five flag raisers. Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block and Mike Strank, how they grew up, joined the military, the Marines for all except Bradley who was a Navy Corpsman, and how they all ended up on that mountain summit. 

For most of them Iwo Jima was their first action, others like Ira Hayes and Mike Strank were seasoned veterans. For three of the six, Strank, Block and Sousley, Iwo Jima would be there last battle they died on the island. 

There were actually two flags raised on Mount Suribachi. The first was a smaller one raised by a patrol from Easy Company 28th Marine Regiment on February 23rd soon after they captured the mountaintop. It was replaced by the second larger one later that day. It was this one captured on film by Joe Rosenthal that became famous. 

The fact that there were two flags was the first “myth” of the incident as Bradley discovers in his research and points out. The initial flag was too small to be seen by most troops on the island. In addition US Secretary of The Navy James Forestal who was present at the Invasion demanded that the first flag be recovered and turned over to him, He stated the reason was it would re preserved for posterity. 

As this flag was being lowered a second larger replacement one was raised. Photographer Joe Rosenthal who was on the peak at Suribachi at the time captured this second flag raising almost as an afterthought. The Five Marines and one Navy Corpsman who just happened to be in the vicinity were tasked with helping to raise the new flag. 

Rosenthal’s picture, which he was sure, was insignificant and wasn’t even sure turned out, went on to capture the imagination of a nation. With days it was on the front page of almost every newspaper in the United States and would eventually win a Pulitzer Prize for the photographer. 

The US Government immediately realised the propaganda value of the picture and immediately took measures to exploit its popularity. The treasury was almost bare due to the enormous cost of the war to date. After six previous war bond drives it was doubtful that a weary population would be able to give once more unless there was some tangible inspiration that victory was almost upon them. Rosenthal’s picture was that inspiration. 

Plans were immediately enacted to have the six flag raisers removed from Iwo Jima and returned to the United States where they would be the centre piece of a seventh and final war bond drive to finance the last stages of the war. 

For half the men in the picture it would be too late. They had already fallen on Iwo Jima. A fourth John Bradley had been wounded and was enroute back to the United States when he was identified and grabbed up for the tour. Initially only Rene Gagnon identified himself as one of the men in the picture and was repatriated. Ira Hayes initially refused to admit it was he in the picture. Eventually the other two identified him and a reluctant Hayes was also returned to the States. 

Here the second myth or issue regarding the picture developed. Gagnon initially identified the wrong man as one of the six. Instead of Harlon Block he states that Hank Hanson was the sixth man in the picture. Hanson has been part of the group that has raised the first flag. And he too had later fallen on the island. When Hayes and Bradley pointed out this error to Government officials they were told to remain quiet. The names of the fallen “heroes” had already been made public and no one was willing to admit the mistake. It wasn’t until after the war when Ira Hayes told the family of Harlon Block who really was in the picture that the truth came out. 

An adoring populace at numerous public events around the country feted the trio of Iwo Jima, including meeting the mothers of their three fallen comrades. Each dealt with their newfound celebrity status differently. Bradley reluctantly went along as he realised what they were doing was important. When the War ended he like so many other veterans, returned home, started a career and a family and got on with life. 

For Rene Gagnon the tour was seemed to be the epitome of all his dreams and a just reward for having to endure the horrors of battle. He revelled in the fame of being one of the heroes of Iwo Jima. He hoped to capitalize on it, and was extremely disappointed when he was not able to do so. When the tour ended his services were no longer needed and he was discarded. All the opportunities he thought would be his failed to materialize, and he returned to his mundane civilian job. Years later he died a broken and bitter man. 

Ira Hayes did not want to be on the tour, and had tried to get out of it. The young Native American was the most tragic of the three. Like many others he could not put to rest the things he had seen and done on Iwo Jima and this haunted him. In addition he returned to a country he had fought for and yet still refused to treat him as an equal citizen. The combination of these things drove him to find solace in a bottle. This eventually had him removed from the bond tour, and returned to the Pacific, which was his desire. 

Ira Hayes also faded into obscurity after the war and died alone after living the remainder of his life in abject poverty, despair and suffering from alcoholism. 

The younger Bradley is not a writer by trade, and he enlisted the help of Ron Powers a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist to write *Flags of Our Father’s*. The result is a moving tale of six ordinary men living in extraordinary times. The book became a best seller, but it worth reading even if had sold a mere handful of copies. Bradley wrote it to better understand his father, and he succeeded. 

John Bradley had good reason to not discuss his war even with his family. He felt uncomfortable with the idea of them being referred to as heroes especially for something they saw as rather insignificant in the greater scope of the battle. Ironically of all the six flag raisers Bradley is the one most deserving of the title hero. He was awarded the navy Cross the United States second highest decoration for valour for tending to the wounded under fire with disregard for his own safety. 

For Bradley though the memories of Iwo Jima were not of saving his comrades or of helping to raise a metal pipe with a piece of cloth attached to it on some wind swept mountain top. They were of the friends and comrades he couldn’t save who remained behind in the volcanic ash forever. 

John Bradley spent the rest of his life wracked with survivor’s guilt and suffering like so many other veterans of his generation. In many ways he was like his friend Ira Hayes another casualty of Iwo Jima. This is the true story that a son discovered about his father. It is one we are all greater for his having shared it.


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