The Flag of Our Fathers, written by James Bradley, is a wonderful story that takes place during World World II. This is a non-fiction account of the battle of Iwo Jima. It begins by describing how the six flag raisers met, and how they ultimately came to raise the flag of the United States of America at Iwo Jima Mountain.
The six flag raisers became frozen in history when they raised, in victory, the flag of our nation during one of the bloodiest battles of the twentieth century. They were photographed after they grabbed a makeshift pole, placed the American flag on it, and raised it on Iwo Jima Mountain. This photograph became very famous and came to symbolize Iwo Jima island, the mountain, the battle, World War II, honor, courage, bravery, and the highest ideals of our nation. For these six, history had a different, special destiny that no one could have predicted, especially our heroes.
Flags of Our Fathers takes place before, during and after World War II. The book talks about the six flag raisers and their families before the War, and how they joined the military. It describes how they advanced on Iwo Jima, even though their enemy, the Japanese, fought violently and was elusive. After the battle at Iwo Jima, the American President summoned the remaining three of the six brave souls back to the U.S., as the other three were killed. While back in the U.S., the three toured the U.S. on the President's request to raise money for the government as part of the "Bond Tour."
The six boys form a representative picture of the U.S. in the 1930's and the 1940's. One was a mill worker from New England, a Kentucky tobacco farmer, a Pennsylvania coal miner's son, a Texan from the oil fields, a Wisconsin boy from the dairy land, and an American Indian living on a reservation in Arizona.
Ira Hayes was born on the Gilla River Indian reservation in Arizona on January 12, 1923. His parents were Nancy and Job Hayes of the Pima tribe. He was the oldest of six children in a Christian household. Ira was very quiet and, like his father, did not talk much. When Ira did speak, he displayed a keen mind and eloquent speech. During his life, Ira read all types of books. Ira enlisted in the Marines nine months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when he was just nineteen years old. He joined World War II to fight for freedom and protect his nation. His American Indian community send him off to war with a traditional Pima ceremony. There was a bountiful feast, and his tribe spoke to him about honor, loyalty, family and his people. The Pima Indians disliked war and all of its brutality; but, in this instance, the elders agreed that it was necessary.
During the war, Ira fought bravely. His first kill came when he was on night watch. A Japanese soldier snuck-up in the middle of the night, and Ira stabbed him with a knife. As Ira was a shy individual, he did not want to be identified as one of the six flag raisers. When summoned back to the U.S. by the President, he was not comfortable with his newly found fame and became an alcoholic. To overcome his alcoholism and avoid embarrassment, he went back to war. On October 25, 1945, Ira boarded a ship home from Japan. Ira landed in San Francisco on November 9, 1945, and on December 1, 1945, he was discharged from active duty at the age of 22. He had spent 39 months of his life as a Marine. Ira resumed his life at the Pima reservation.
The author's father, John (a.k.a. "Jack") Bradley, was born in 1923 in Antigo, Wisconsin. He attended St. John's Catholic School. He was the second of five children, and was a very friendly, quiet boy. At the age of 19, John enlisted in the Navy to avoid land battle as he was about to be drafted. Little did he know that enlisting in the Navy would lead him to one of history's bloodiest battles.
John became a Navy corpsman who was trained to care for Marines in battle. In addition to learning life-saving skills, he was expected to endure the rigors of battle under tough Marine Corps conditioning. In one incident during the war, he sprinted 30 yards under enemy fire to a wounded boy's site where he applied life-saving first aid. As a result of his heroic actions, he was nicknamed "Doc." His heroism in battle earned him the Navy Cross, an honor he never once mentioned to his family. After the War, John returned to Antigo, Wisconsin to raise his eight children with his wife Betty, and where he would die.
I enjoyed reading Flags of Our Fathers. This was the first book I read about World War II, clearly one of the most horrific periods in world history. The book was well-written, and it centered around D-Day (one of the bloodiest days of World War II). Iwo Jima was important to the Japanese as they used this island to store supplies, weapons, and used it as a relief for the Japanese fighter planes. The conquest of Iwo Jima was imperative to the Americans. Iwo Jima was home to a fleet of Japanese warplanes and artillery batteries, two airstrips, and a radar station. The Japanese were shooting down too many U.S. warplanes, and it was important to put Iwo Jima island out of commission.
The author uses emotional language to describe the six flag raisers. He interviews numerous people who knew them, including family members. While the six flag raisers are clearly heroes, the author does a fine job describing their character and personality that shows them as normal men. They were thrust into an "insane" world , and they rose to the occasion. However, I never lost sense that these individuals were human just like us. Ira Hayes became an alcoholic due to the stress. John Bradley cried in his sleep.
The language used by the author was also very descriptive. It provided a real sense of what was going on at the time. I felt the brutalities of the battle at Iwo Jima. I experienced the fear and panic of the American soldiers fighting. Through the author's language, I came to know the main characters intimately. I was sad when they were sad, and I took pride in their accomplishments.
The strategies in reading this book were: (1) imaging, (2) reading between the lines, and (3) summarizing. While reading this book, I used the strategy of imaging as I painted a mental picture in my head of everything happening in the book. I was able to see what the main characters and their families were like. I saw the soldiers in training. I was with them when they went to battle. I shared in their accomplishments and in their tragedies.
I also applied the "reading between the lines" strategy. This strategy allowed me to go beyond the text in the book. As an example, when the author said that the flag raising event is "frozen in time," I know this to mean that it has been woven into our history and the highest ideals of our nation. I know that Ira Hayes' alcoholism caused him great embarrassment and shame. So much so, that he had to return to war to escape his inner demon.
The third strategy that I applied here is "summarizing." At the conclusion of each chapter that I read, I summarized in my mind the emotions and events that took place. This helped me to understand and recall the events and characters in the book.
James Bradley, who authored this book, is the son of John ("Doc") Bradley, one of the six flag raisers. James was inspired to write this book because he was extremely proud of his father and the fact that he was one of the heroic six flag raisers. The author conducted more than 300 interviews with World War II veterans and their families before writing this book. I especially enjoyed the fact that the author had a personal attachment to the story. This book is a tremendous accomplishment and true to the events of that period in time. Obviously, he took personal pride and great care to portray the truth.
e Against Destiny, by Justine and Ron 
