Is this not a true and well timed story?

With the showing of "Flags of Our Fathers", I think this is an interesting and enlightening story





Tale of Six Boys



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 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 cheese head, too! Come

gather around, Cheese heads, and I will tell you a story."



(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 just wrote a book called "Flags of Our Fathers" which is #5 on

the New York Times Best Seller list right now. It is the story of the six

boys you see behind me.



"Six boys raised the 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 people 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, doing 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 of a 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. In Iwo

Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died. And when boys died in 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 current War on Terrorism 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.



REMINDER: Everyday that you can wake up free is a blessing.







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Is this not a true and well timed story?
I appreciate the message, but that is not a question. I've read the book and strongly recommend it. I have not seen the movie but plan to. Semper Fidelis.
Reply:Don't know if it is true, as i wasn't there, but i'll trust you =)



But yes, its a good message (even though i don't beleive in God)
Reply:not sure

Brushing Teeth