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Flags of our Fathers: A Novel by James Bradley
with Ron Powers
by Spencer Green, Staff Writer
“There are no great men. Just great challenges which ordinary men,
out of necessity, are forced by circumstances to meet.” Admiral
William F. “Bull” Hawlsey's words are the theme of Flags Of Our
Fathers. Flags Of Our Fathers is not a book about heroes; instead,
it is an account of six ordinary men doing what they had to in order
to help their brothers in arms.
No doubt, you've seen the picture before: the picture
of six men raising a flag over Iwo Jima during World War II. James
Bradley and Ron Powers have finally told the story of the six men in
this iconic image. Bradley's father, John, is one of these men, one
of the flag raisers who became instant heroes once the picture got
back to America. While the Marines and Navy personnel continued to
fight on Iwo Jima, the image began hitting newsstands around the
country. This picture instilled hope in Americans, inspiring a
country that was tired of fighting. The figures in the picture
became national heroes, despite the fact that half of them were
killed in combat soon after the famous picture was taken.
Bradley tells the reader of how his father, John "Doc"
Bradley, and the two other survivors, Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes,
were forced to go around the country to raise money for the
government. This was painful for the three men, as they had been
forced to see many of their friends die horribly in battle, and they
felt as if their dead and wounded comrades deserved the glory and
fame more than them. The always-modest Doc Bradley told the press,
"I saw some guys struggling with a pole and I just jumped in to lend
them a hand. It's as simple as that." Bradley and the others felt
like they were unworthy of being such celebrities, as if they were
taking the honor their dead buddies deserved.
Because of a simple photograph, the lives of three men
would never be the same again. As Ira Hayes would later say, "It's
funny what a picture can do." Each man was scarred by the war: Ira
Hayes remained in a drunken stupor until his death in 1955; Rene
Gagnon was forced to continue playing the part of a celebrity until
his death in 1979; and Doc Bradley cried in his sleep for years
after the war. Each man experienced the same things, but only
Bradley was able to fix his life and eventually get over the war.
This story shows how a nation desperate for heroes can cling on to
any image that can give them hope.
The authors interviewed dozens of people who were
first-hand witnesses to the events in question. The memories of
these witnesses add greatly to the story, because they give the
reader an ability to actually see what these famous men were like.
The authors closely examine how these innocent young men joined the
military to serve their country, then went on to become national
heroes, and eventually tried to settle down and put the pieces of
their lives back together. These six men went to hell but only three
of them came back. Bradley has done justice to the epic story of the
flag raisers lives.
What makes Flags Of Our Fathers so interesting is that
the flag raisers did not want glory or recognition for themselves,
but instead for their fallen comrades. One cannot help but to be
moved as one reads about these ordinary men turned into huge
celebrities against their will. As Doc Bradley once put it, "I did
not know the picture was being taken. If I had, I would have gotten
the hell out of there and I would not be on this tour." These two
sentences summarize how Bradley, Hayes and Gagnon felt about their
predicament; not one of them felt like a hero, and each would have
preferred a life of anonymity to a life of fame.
Flags Of Our Fathers is not only a great book,
but a touching one as well. Bradley and Powers have done a
stupendous job of bringing the story of these ordinary heroes to the
public eye, and now Clint Eastwood has made the book into a movie.
The movie did a great job of bringing the story to life and doing it
justice, and I recommend seeing it to all. The book is an incredible
work of nonfiction, and I wholeheartedly recommend reading this
amazing novel.
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