Rating: 
Summary: A great generation
Review: My father ran away from home when he was 17, lied about his age, and joined the Marines. He was standing guard duty on the Panama Canal when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He shipped out almost immediately for the South Pacific as part of the First Marine Division. He served on Guadalcanal and Bougainville. That is almost the entire extent of my knowledge of my father's World War II experiences. Although I lived with him until I went away to college, he just didn't talk about it. Reading this book by James Bradley helped me to understand that I am not alone in this experience. Our fathers' generation fought a war without daily body counts on the evening news, without "embedded" journalists, and without carping from the home front about why they shouldn't be there. They fought it quietly and stoically. They won their war, and the survivors came home to get back to the business of being human. This is a great book with many lessons for a country facing a war against terrorism. May God grant that we fight it as effectively, successfully, and heroically as our fathers' generation fought their war.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing story, hearwarming and heart wrenching
Review: Loved this book. I learned history--the story of IWO JIMA, a battle that was pivotal to the allies winning the war in the pacific. Knowing about the bravery of the soldiers in the face of brutality and almost certain death has given me greater regard for the "greatest generation." It has also made me realize how fragile is civilization. One question raised by the book is how a nation can be so systematically savage as were the Japanese in the 1930s and 1940s. And, why do we remember the crimes of Hitler and the Germans while forgetting the crimes of the Japanese. A telling statistic from the book is the fact that about 2% of POWs in German camps died while 37% of POWS held by the Japanese died. One minor weakness as I see it--the author is a little sentimental about his father while perhaps being a little too hard on some of the other flag raisers--especially Rene Gagnon. If it means something to poor Rene's family to have him buried in Arlington with a glorious quote on his tombstone, why should we quibble? Seems that any man on that Island during the fighting, medaled or not, is a hero deserving of all the honor the US has to bestow. Overall, I loved the book and highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Flags of Our Fathers Great Book
Review: This book is truly a great read and I would suggest it to any American because it symbolizes a moment in history that our nation will never forget and furthermore symbolizes the American spirit and resolve to defeat the odds no matter how steep they may be and this is a great time to renew such spirit and resolve. The author is a son of one of the flag raisers and it seems as if no man could have written the book any better as you can truly tell that he through his heart and soul into this book as to do justice to both his father and all of our servicemen who fought on the little island of Iwo Jima. The author Stephen Ambrose said that it was the best battle book he ever read and that the story filled him with awe and I would have to agree with him that the book was truly an incredible read. I thought this book was terrific and that is why I would give the book a ranking of a 5 stars because it was one of the best books I read and I plan on reading the book several more times.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Great Book This is a serious book that should required reading
of those wanting know of events that shaped the world
we live into today.
Rating:
Summary: This book gives the definition of sacrifice!
Review: This book should be required reading for all High School students living in America. There were many times while reading this book that I had to stop and reflect and absorb what I had just read. Other times I just had to stop and cry. No book on American History will leave such a lasting impression of the sacrifice made by the American Warrior.
Rating: 
Summary: most reflective book
Review: One of the great war story to come out of World War II, the tale of six men who rise the flag at Iwo Jima comes alive in this well told story. Unfortuately, its also a tale of saddness and disappointment as the toll of war made it mark on the survivors while it took the lives of others. I think one of the great tragedies of this book probably lies with the author's father, who strunk back when he should have spoken out during the long life that was blessed him. Men like him should be speaking since so many who were at Iwo Jima could not. But the book proves be reflective on the cost and toll of our soldiers in war, any war.
Rating:
Summary: From a 20 year Marine
Review: I spent 20 years in the USMC. I remeber what they taught us in bootcamp and later training about Iwo Jima, but never had any author put it in such a personal prose. Prior to this, I thought that Leon Uris' "Battle Cry" was the best narrative about the WWII Corps. But, now I will have to re-think the subject. One of the five best books I have read over the past 40 years!
Rating:
Summary: Flags of Our Fathers: Heros of Iro Jima
Review: This was a great book about six young men who joined the marines (except one who joined the navy) and where called to take some of the islands that the Japanese had taken between the United States and Japan. Not all men had fought when they got to the battle of Iwo Jima, but some where already veterans, like Mike Strank. The author of this book James Bradely was the son of John one of the flag raisers on Iwo Jima. Most men who had raised the flag were fighting men, John on the other hand was a medic who carred for the wounded, and Rene was just a delevery boy. When they arrieved on the Iwo Jima they where not shot at and had a good walk up the beech for a few minutes, but when there were a great deal of men on the beech the men where slaughtered with machine guns and motars. The Japanese had a seven story building of tunnels under the ground in which to hide. When a Japanese soilder was dead they would hide it so that the Americans thought they were losing worse than they really were. The japanese would kill themselves for honor. The bombings that the Americans did before hand hadn't seemed to do anything but make the Japenese base stronger. When the six men had rose the flag on Mt. Surbachi they didn't seem like heros, for it was the second time it had been raised. The real heros, were the first men to raise it... they where just raising a bigger flag, when a photographer got the perfect picture. When they came home only three of the six where left: John Bradely, a medic for the army, Rene Gagon the delivery boy, and Ira Hays the Pima indian that had more than willingly joined the army. They all had there own ways of dealing with the fame. Rene liked it and enjoyed, but Ira and John stayed away from it. Every night John would pray and then cry because of the battle at Iwo Jima, and Ira began to drink to much to try and forget about it. Many of there friends where lost in this battle, and some where even tortured. Most people thought the war was over when they raised the flag but they still had to take the rest of the island. John was sent to a hospital after shrapnel hit his leg. The other two were immediatly sent home after they found out about the flag raising. When the croud asked about them, they would always say "The real heros were the men who died". I respect them for saying this and I give this book two thumbs up.
Rating: 
Summary: Great story told terribly
Review: At this point it's almost sacrilegious and anti-patriotic to say anything bad about this book, but I must. The bravery of the men who fought on Iwo Jima and the subsequent story of the men who raised the flag is one that must be told--unfortunately James Bradley is not the man to tell it. His writing detracts from the the tale and is so bad and so hackneyed that it is almost an insult to the men about whom he's writing. Bradley's choppy sentences are the stuff of teenagers or college freshmen, and I'm not surprised that this book was rejected by several publishers. Someone should have purchased the idea from Bradley and then hired a much, much better author to flesh it out. If there is a cliche that Bradley doesn't use in Flags of Our Fathers, it's merely because he hadn't heard it yet. I could not help but think, as I was reading it, that the author had movies in mind, not just movies he'd seen but a movie that might be made of the book he was writing.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Put Down
Review: Reveals the utmost horror of conflict, yet the determination to prevail in the Pacific. Casts the Pacific conflict as one which we underappreciate when compared to the substantial ink that Europe and D-Day receive. A stunning read.
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