KIDS AND DEAD HEROES

In this time when we are all troubled by the almost daily deaths of young Americans in Iraq , the following submission from reader Patricia Hale has relevance.

A Whole Different Look At The Meaning Of "Hero"

If this doesn't make you stop and say a prayer of
thankfulness that you are where you are...nothing will.
A Tale of 6 boys After you read this it makes you glad you
are where you are.  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 [ Mount Suribachi ] 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, I'll tell you a story."  (This fellow, 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 wrote a book called, "Flags of
Our Fathers", which was #5 on the New York Times Best Seller
list (back in Jan. 2001).  It is the story of the six boys
you see behind me.  Six boys raised that 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, doin g 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 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.  On Iwo
Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died.  And when
boys died on 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 at someone else's sacrifice.  God
Bless.

REMINDER: Everyday that you wake up free and put your feet
on the floor, is going to be a good day.  Life is not
measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the
moments that take our breath away...

end

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