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Summary: This is a MUST-READ!
Review: James Bradley's tale of the six boys who raised the Old Glory over the island of Iwo Jima (one of whom was his own dad) is a classic of war literature. It is a father-son story. It is a war story. It is a story of patriotism and sacrifice. But ultimately it is the story about how ordinary people can rise to extraordinary heights in fantastically dangerous situations. Inspired and inspirational, this book is must-reading for anyone even remotely interested in World War II, and in the sacrifices that certain Americans made in order to win it. This Memorial Day, buy a copy for everyone you know!
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Summary: Six boys forever frozen in our nation's memory
Review: No, this isn't John Wayne and "Sands of Iwo Jima". This is a story of American youth and a time of American innocence. Who were these six young, skinny kids in this photograph? A photograph that has become an icon of our times. Three of them would never know what impact this photo and their actions had on a country. Three others would know only too well. I sincerely thank James Bradley for taking on this very personal and very emotional subject. His father, PM2C John Bradley, USN must have been made of greater stuff than most folks. His son's book is one of the most fitting tributes to a father's memory I could ever imagine. My most heartfelt best wishes go out to James, his mother and all the Bradley's.
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Summary: Flags of Our Fathers
Review: I was one of the Marines from the Green Bay, Wisconsin I&I Staff that were called upon to lay Mr John "Doc" Bradley (one of the flag raisers) to rest. James Bradley (his son) mentioned the countless letters and photographs that were found after his father's death to us the afternoon of the funeral. When I herd about his book I had to read it. This book is a powerful account of six very different men who came together in a moment that will live forever. To his family, John Bradley never spoke of the photograph or of the war. But after his death at age seventy, his family discovered closed boxes of letters and photographs. In Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley draws on those documents to retrace the lives of his father and the men of his company. Following these men's paths to Iwo Jima, James Bradley wrote a classic story of the heroic battle for the Pacific's most crucial island, an island riddled with the Japanese tunnels and 22,000 fanatic defenders who would fight to the last man. The most interesting part of the story is what happened after the victory. The men in the photo, three were killed during the battle, to become reluctant symbols. For two of them, the adulation was shattering. Only James Bradley's father (John "Doc" Bradley) truly survived, displaying no copy of the famous photograph in his home, telling his son only," The real heroes of Iwo Jima were the guys who didn't come back". This is the best book I have ever read!
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Summary: A book that is written as if you were there in the war
Review: This book is the best world war 2 book i have ever read to date. This book takes you at an in depth look and the whole history behind the actual picture that was taken that will always be a piece of american history. The details of the battle scenes in the book can make you sick to your stomach at certain point, and even make your eyes water from reading it. This book has everything, emotion, action, and a overall great read.
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Summary: MONUMENTAL AND EMOTIONAL HISTORY
Review: On Parris Island I was made to memorize the words of Admiral C.P. Nimitz in reference to the Marines on Iwo Jima...."Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue". Having served in the Marine Corps I have visited and stood in awe of the Iwo Jima memorial. Having worked in and around Johnstown Pennsylvania for four years, I drove past the boyhood home of Seargent Mike Strank at least twice a weak and heard his name in reference to the historic flag raising. Having read this book I will never see them or think of them the same way again. James Bradley tells the tale of his father, Navy Corpsman John Bradley and the five Marines that helped him raise the flag during the battle for a slab of volcanic rock and sand during the island hopping campaign in the second World War. With integrity mixed with a flair for story telling, Bradley details the lives of these six men before, during, and after this historic event. He shows the ordinary men they were and the warriors they became. What's more impressive is that he chronicles how America made them heroes and simultaneously how the surviving men in large avoided the spotlight. He shows the humility that exists in all great men. Bradley's in depth research brings the battle alive and even manages to stir emotion 55 years after the event. The book is brilliantly written. Its historical value is only outmatched by the tales of humanity that accompany it. It passes along a moment of American pride to generations that had yet to been born. It enthralled me from the moment I picked it up and did what I once thought to be impossible. It made me even prouder to have served with The United States Marine Corps. Semper Fi.
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Summary: An Interesting Angle
Review: The invasion of Iwo Jima was a terrifying event for Americans and Japanese alike, and it created many heroes -- too many to count. It was the last stepping stone toward the end of World War II and was the U.S. Marines' finest hour. (if the ordeal can possibly be minimized in that regard)
Numerous books have been written about the invasion, as one would guess. James Bradley takes a interesting approach in covering the Iwo effort by focusing on the famous "flag raisers", one being his own father. He takes us through their journey from boyhood through enlistment, training, and service.
These were real battlefield heroes. And then one day they raised a flag. "A flag", not "the flag" (Forrestal wanted "the flag" so these guys threw up a "replacement"), and by virtue of a lucky photo were swept up in a wave of propaganda. That is, at least the ones who ultimately survived the invasion, which was not over at the time when "a flag" was raised.
Imagine going through an intense multi-week firefight costing tens of thousands of lives and surviving after enduring things that the average American cannot begin to imagine, and then being brought home and paraded about as heroes -- because you raised a flag. These guys, for the most part, couldn't buy that, and their lives were changed partly because of that alone.
That is the story. That is James Bradley's unique angle. I would not recommend this book for those simply wishing to understand the Iwo Jima invasion, because there are others that contain much more detail. Rather, read the book to find out about a few interesting humans involved. It is a gripping tale, and your understanding of events at that time will certainly be enriched by it.
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Summary: Classic WWII Photo Comes to Life in Powerful History Book
Review: This is an unexpectedly stunning book. Having read his similarly themed "Flyboys" recently, I was anxious to read this tome and am happy to report that it is even more powerful and poignant. What the two books share inextricably is author James Bradley's unerring ability to depict the American wartime mindset during World War II. This time, he focuses on the Marines who landed on Iwo Jima, a strategic maneuver that has been frozen in our collective memory through the famous photograph and subsequent statue in Arlington National Cemetery of the American flag being raised on Iwo Jima. But the book is far from a flag-waving remembrance of obviously heroic acts in the face of an undeterred suicidal enemy. Instead, Bradley accurately views them as acts as common valor by soldiers who were on that isolated atoll simply because they had to and knew full well that they counted on each other to survive the battle. Bradley should know since his father was the last surviving GI in that photograph, a Navy corpsman who was assigned with the Marines that fateful day of the assault. It is a testament to his father that the author only uncovered facts about his father's heroic acts after his death.
The first chapter reminds me quite a bit of Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" in particular, with Bradley's vivid descriptions of the fire and devastation of the assault on Iwo Jima. Over a month's time, a staggering 26,000 Americans and 22,000 Japanese gave their lives in the island takeover. From there, with the aid of co-author Ron Powers, Bradley writes in detail about the six flag raisers, who represented a diverse American portrait. Old film buffs may recall one of them, a Pima Indian named Ira Hayes, as portrayed by a miscast Tony Curtis in 1961's "The Outsider". Bradley also gives a thorough history of the American Marines, as well as telling snapshots of the enemy. In fact, Bradley finds his way to Japan and spends time relishing the Japanese culture, which in turn, gives him valuable insights into the history of a military-controlled country which trained generations of their men to perform atrocious acts in the name of their emperor. This gives Bradley a much fuller perspective of the reasons behind the fierce fighting that took place and why the enemy fought to such a bitter end. As he concluded in "Flyboys", the key difference was that Americans had a will to live and that the Japanese, true kamikazes in their souls, had a will to die. The Japanese leaders bent their soldiers to their monomaniacal will and sent them off on a course that would ensure its fulfillment. This is among the most thoughtful and emotionally affecting examinations of the human element in World War II.
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Summary: A Must Read
Review: Normally I tell my thoughts on a book in my reviews. Not this time.
JUST BUY AND READ THIS BOOK.
- If you ever wondered why Truman dropped the bomb, READ THIS BOOK.
- If you ever wondered what happened in the Pacific in WWII, READ THIS BOOK.
- If you want to see a glimpse of why we should be aggressive in the war on terror, READ THIS BOOK.
The times were different, but this amazing story will change your perspective forever on WWII, how an entire country (like Japan then) or an entire culture (like the Muslim Extremists of today) can HATE Americans and will make you realize why Tom Brokaw's Greatest Generation is indeed the seminal work on a generation of American's that were not Red State / Blue State, but patriots all.
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Summary: An Amazing Tribute
Review: It's sometimes amazing the importance that we Americans place on icons. The picture of the flagraising on Iwo Jima is burned into our memories, even when we don't know the full story behind the events that led to it. James Bradley is to be lauded for his moving personal and historical account of the most famous flag-raising in American history.
Bradley's father never talked about his war experiences to his family. He returned home, married, and buried the past inside him. It wasn't until after his death in 1994 that his sons began to piece together his life history, and discovered the hero their father was, for he had served as a medic in the battle for Iwo Jima and been memorialized in bronze for his part in the flag-raising. (What most Americans don't know, is that image that is forever captured and brandished in our memories, was the second flag-raising on Iwo Jima.)
"Flags of Our Fathers" deftly weaves together the alternately successful and turbulent lives of the young men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima with the historical and military aspects of the very fight over this small, sulfuric island. Bradley narrates each man's young life and what happened to him after the war was over and their bond tour duties had finished. Some quietly shouldered their war pains and victories, others wore them like a badge to their downfall. "Flags of Our Fathers" is a loving tribute to his father's past and to all the men who served America during this horrific and fatal battle.
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Summary: No Review just good news
Review: Clint Eastwood is directing and Steven Spielberg is producing. Look for in 2006
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