A Good Book

I am currently reading "Flags of our Fathers" by James Bradley. It is about the 5 US Marines and 1 US Navy corpsman (father of the author) who raised the flag on Mt. Surabachi on Iwo Jima during World War II. It goes into the lives of these 6 men who made what might be the most famous war image ever. Here are a few items that you may not know about this historic event.
...three of the six men did not live through the battle of Iwo Jima.
...one of the six was actually a navy corpman.
...the three survivors appeared briefly at the end of the John Wayne movie "Sands of Iwo Jima"
...one of the marines was a Pima indian from Arizona, his name was Ira Hayes
...the famous flag raising was actually the second flag raised and the flag raising did not mark the end of the battle which raged on for a month before the Japanese defenders were defeated.
This is a very good book and I highly recommend it.


[ 10-21-2003, 01:06 AM: Message edited by: Stew ]

[1pump]

Thanks for the tip. :smile: When I get done with the book I'm reading about Guadalcanal I'll look for that one.

I knew it was the second flag raising (done for the benefit of the photographer) but I didn't know about the other tidbits.

[Joe Schwab]

Just finished reading The Special Prisoner by Jim Lehrer. All I can say is "wow"! This is not for the faint hearted.

All I can say is, I'm very glad we defeated Japan in WWII.

[1pump]

The Japanese made the ***** look like Girl Scouts, especially with their conduct in China and their treatment of prisoners of war.

Thanks for the tip, Captain. I read a review of that book and it sounds like a good one.

[ 10-21-2003, 11:49 AM: Message edited by: 1pump ]

[Fishfeet]

Sounds like good readin` Stew. Ira Hayes as in the song by the late, great, Johnny Cash? Fishft.