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Flags of Our Fathers
In this unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America.
In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima—and into history. Through a hail of machine-gun and mortar fire that left the beaches strewn with comrades, they battled to the island's highest peak. And after climbing through a landscape of hell itself, they raised a flag.
Now the son of one of the flagraisers has written a powerful account of six very different young men who came together in a moment that will live forever.
To his family, John Bradley never spoke of the photograph or the war. But after his death at age seventy, his family discovered closed boxes of letters and photos. In Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley draws on those documents to retrace the lives of his father and the men of Easy Company. Following these men's paths to Iwo Jima, James Bradley has written a classic story of the heroic battle for the Pacific's most crucial island—an island riddled with Japanese tunnels and 22,000 fanatic defenders who would fight to the last man.
But perhaps the most interesting part of the story is what happened after the victory. The men in the photo—three were killed during the battle—were proclaimed heroes and flown home, to become reluctant symbols. For two of them, the adulation was shattering. Only James Bradley's father 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."
Few books ever have captured the complexity and furor of war and its aftermath as well as Flags of Our Fathers. A penetrating, epic look at a generation at war, this is history told with keen insight, enormous honesty, and the passion of a son paying homage to his father. It is the story of the difference between truth and myth, the meaning of being a hero, and the essence of the human experience of war.
From the Hardcover edition.
In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima—and into history. Through a hail of machine-gun and mortar fire that left the beaches strewn with comrades, they battled to the island's highest peak. And after climbing through a landscape of hell itself, they raised a flag.
Now the son of one of the flagraisers has written a powerful account of six very different young men who came together in a moment that will live forever.
To his family, John Bradley never spoke of the photograph or the war. But after his death at age seventy, his family discovered closed boxes of letters and photos. In Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley draws on those documents to retrace the lives of his father and the men of Easy Company. Following these men's paths to Iwo Jima, James Bradley has written a classic story of the heroic battle for the Pacific's most crucial island—an island riddled with Japanese tunnels and 22,000 fanatic defenders who would fight to the last man.
But perhaps the most interesting part of the story is what happened after the victory. The men in the photo—three were killed during the battle—were proclaimed heroes and flown home, to become reluctant symbols. For two of them, the adulation was shattering. Only James Bradley's father 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."
Few books ever have captured the complexity and furor of war and its aftermath as well as Flags of Our Fathers. A penetrating, epic look at a generation at war, this is history told with keen insight, enormous honesty, and the passion of a son paying homage to his father. It is the story of the difference between truth and myth, the meaning of being a hero, and the essence of the human experience of war.
From the Hardcover edition.
382 pages, Paperback
First published May 2, 2000
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About the author
James D. Bradley
8 books357 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
James Bradley is an American author of historical non-fiction. His subject is the Pacific theatre of World War II.
James Bradley is an American author of historical non-fiction. His subject is the Pacific theatre of World War II.
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June 16, 2024
The flagraisers at Iwo Jima made history, though they couldn’t have known it at the time. When six American fighting men raised a United States flag atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, an Associated Press photographer quickly snapped a photograph that became The Photograph – the most reproduced, most iconic photograph ever taken. And it changed forever the lives of all involved in it.
Flags of Our Fathers, a 2000 bestseller, was later adapted into a 2006 Clint Eastwood film. The book was written by James Bradley, whose father, Jack Bradley, was a U.S. Navy corpsman identified as being one of the flagraisers. Bradley recalls how his father almost never talked about his service in the Second World War – not about the Battle of Iwo Jima, and certainly not about The Photograph. This book represents Bradley’s attempt to understand the experiences of his father and the other flagraisers, both before and after the war.
The six flagraisers came from across the United States of America, and reflected the diversity of the American experience. Mike Strank was a Pennsylvania sergeant who was known and respected for his professionalism and his dedication to his men. Franklin Sousley was a cheerful young man from the Appalachian highlands of Kentucky. Harlon Block had been a star player for a legendary high school football team in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley. Ira Hayes was a Native American, from the Pima nation of Arizona. Rene Gagnon, from a New Hampshire mill-town family, was known for his darkly handsome looks. And Jack Bradley, the author’s father, grew up in a devoutly Catholic household in Wisconsin.
It is moving to read Bradley’s tribute to the ordinary Marine riflemen who had to do the dirty work of dislodging Japanese soldiers from Pacific islands that those soldiers were determined to defend to the death:
“It was the rifleman, slogging ashore in the teeth of murderous fire. It was the rifleman, surrounded by the screams and the floating corpses of his buddies. It was the rifleman, scared and exposed and unprotected by armor of any sort, peering through the smoke and confusion for a glimpse of an individual enemy. It was the rifleman who would determine the outcome of America’s War.” (p. 105)
The reference to “America’s War” sets forth Bradley’s sense that, in contrast with the European theatre of war where allies of many nations worked together, the Pacific war was virtually an all-American affair – an assessment with which at least some Australians and New Zealanders might well disagree.
Bradley also writes well about the flagraisers’ Japanese adversaries on Iwo Jima, virtually all of whom died on the island, emphasizing “the corruption of Bushido that was wrought by Japan’s malignant military regime. A traditional samurai might expect to die in combat and be honored for it. He might kill himself to atone for a moral mistake or a failure of courage. But suicide as an expression of ultimate sacrifice for one’s country was not a traditional samurai value. This was a construct of a deranged military establishment cynically bent on extracting the maximum utility from its issen gorin [“penny soldiers”] (p. 207). The difference between the Japanese and American forces on Iwo Jima, as Bradley sees it, is that “The Japanese enemy would fight to the death for the Emperor. That motive made them formidable. But these boys would fight to the death for one another. And that motive made them invincible” (pp. 146-47).
Part of Bradley’s purpose in writing Flags of Our Fathers is to dispel popular illusions regarding the Battle of Iwo Jima. For one, the flagraising shown in The Photograph was not the first flag-raising of the battle; a first flagraising had occurred earlier on February 23, 1945, but that first flag had been concealed by a Marine officer who did not want that flag taken away from his unit. It was that second flagraising that photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped – a moment that flagraiser Gagnon dismissed as being about “as significant as going to the mailbox” (p. 334), but a picture that spoke volumes to an embattled American nation’s sense of itself:
“People would always remember where they were the moment they saw the photo, as others would later remember President Kennedy’s death. The flagraising photograph signaled victory and hope, a counterpoint to the photos of sinking ships at Pearl Harbor that had signaled defeat and fear four years before” (p. 220).
Another widely held misconception regarding Iwo Jima is that The Photograph represents the moment of final victory in the battle. The picture has that look, but in fact the battle went on for another month; and three of the flagraisers – Strank, Sousley, and Block – would be among the 6800 Americans killed in the battle.
The three surviving flagraisers faced a celebrity, a “hero” status, that they did not want. As Jack Bradley once told his son James, “The heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who didn’t come back” (p. 343). But the American people wanted heroes, and the U.S. government needed help raising money to push the Pacific War forward toward final victory. Consequently, Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes were drafted for a new form of service: soliciting citizen donations for the nation’s Seventh Bond Drive, “the Mighty 7th.”
Each of the flagraisers responded differently to this pressure. Bradley returned as quickly as possible to quiet civilian life as a funeral director in Wisconsin, and politely turned down all requests for interviews about his war years. Gagnon spent his post-war years waiting, sometimes bitterly, for his celebrity status to bring him a prosperity that never quite materialized. And Hayes slowly succumbed to alcoholism.
Some readers of Flags of Our Fathers will be aware that the U.S. Marine Corps, after an exhaustive investigation, concluded that the sixth flagraiser shown in The Photograph was not Jack Bradley, but rather was a U.S. Marine named Howard Schultz. Author James Bradley has said since then that he thinks his father was in the first photograph but believed he was in the second -- not that any of that takes away from Jack Bradley's heroism during the battle.
One finishes Flags of Our Fathers with a strong sense of the heroism of the Marines who fought at Iwo Jima – the engagement that Bradley calls “America’s most heroic battle” (p. 247). Perhaps part of the reason why this book speaks to me so strongly is because I live in Northern Virginia, a region where war and its remembrance are so prominent an aspect of the social and cultural landscape. Yesterday, for example, my wife and I took a visiting friend to Arlington National Cemetery. On the way home, we drove by the Iwo Jima Memorial, where Felix de Weldon's sculpture preserves the image from The Photograph as part of the official iconography of the Washington area.
And there is another reason why I am thinking of this book today, on this Father’s Day. My father, who served in the United States Navy as a lieutenant j.g., is buried with my mother at Arlington. On this Father’s Day, I find myself thinking about my father’s service to this nation, as Bradley has spent so much of his life thinking about his father’s service. Like Bradley’s father, my father came home from his military service, got married, built a career, and raised children in a safe, peaceful, secure, stable household. All of us who were fortunate enough to have a dad like Bradley’s father, or like my father, will find Flags of Our Fathers to be a particularly powerful reading experience.
Flags of Our Fathers, a 2000 bestseller, was later adapted into a 2006 Clint Eastwood film. The book was written by James Bradley, whose father, Jack Bradley, was a U.S. Navy corpsman identified as being one of the flagraisers. Bradley recalls how his father almost never talked about his service in the Second World War – not about the Battle of Iwo Jima, and certainly not about The Photograph. This book represents Bradley’s attempt to understand the experiences of his father and the other flagraisers, both before and after the war.
The six flagraisers came from across the United States of America, and reflected the diversity of the American experience. Mike Strank was a Pennsylvania sergeant who was known and respected for his professionalism and his dedication to his men. Franklin Sousley was a cheerful young man from the Appalachian highlands of Kentucky. Harlon Block had been a star player for a legendary high school football team in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley. Ira Hayes was a Native American, from the Pima nation of Arizona. Rene Gagnon, from a New Hampshire mill-town family, was known for his darkly handsome looks. And Jack Bradley, the author’s father, grew up in a devoutly Catholic household in Wisconsin.
It is moving to read Bradley’s tribute to the ordinary Marine riflemen who had to do the dirty work of dislodging Japanese soldiers from Pacific islands that those soldiers were determined to defend to the death:
“It was the rifleman, slogging ashore in the teeth of murderous fire. It was the rifleman, surrounded by the screams and the floating corpses of his buddies. It was the rifleman, scared and exposed and unprotected by armor of any sort, peering through the smoke and confusion for a glimpse of an individual enemy. It was the rifleman who would determine the outcome of America’s War.” (p. 105)
The reference to “America’s War” sets forth Bradley’s sense that, in contrast with the European theatre of war where allies of many nations worked together, the Pacific war was virtually an all-American affair – an assessment with which at least some Australians and New Zealanders might well disagree.
Bradley also writes well about the flagraisers’ Japanese adversaries on Iwo Jima, virtually all of whom died on the island, emphasizing “the corruption of Bushido that was wrought by Japan’s malignant military regime. A traditional samurai might expect to die in combat and be honored for it. He might kill himself to atone for a moral mistake or a failure of courage. But suicide as an expression of ultimate sacrifice for one’s country was not a traditional samurai value. This was a construct of a deranged military establishment cynically bent on extracting the maximum utility from its issen gorin [“penny soldiers”] (p. 207). The difference between the Japanese and American forces on Iwo Jima, as Bradley sees it, is that “The Japanese enemy would fight to the death for the Emperor. That motive made them formidable. But these boys would fight to the death for one another. And that motive made them invincible” (pp. 146-47).
Part of Bradley’s purpose in writing Flags of Our Fathers is to dispel popular illusions regarding the Battle of Iwo Jima. For one, the flagraising shown in The Photograph was not the first flag-raising of the battle; a first flagraising had occurred earlier on February 23, 1945, but that first flag had been concealed by a Marine officer who did not want that flag taken away from his unit. It was that second flagraising that photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped – a moment that flagraiser Gagnon dismissed as being about “as significant as going to the mailbox” (p. 334), but a picture that spoke volumes to an embattled American nation’s sense of itself:
“People would always remember where they were the moment they saw the photo, as others would later remember President Kennedy’s death. The flagraising photograph signaled victory and hope, a counterpoint to the photos of sinking ships at Pearl Harbor that had signaled defeat and fear four years before” (p. 220).
Another widely held misconception regarding Iwo Jima is that The Photograph represents the moment of final victory in the battle. The picture has that look, but in fact the battle went on for another month; and three of the flagraisers – Strank, Sousley, and Block – would be among the 6800 Americans killed in the battle.
The three surviving flagraisers faced a celebrity, a “hero” status, that they did not want. As Jack Bradley once told his son James, “The heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who didn’t come back” (p. 343). But the American people wanted heroes, and the U.S. government needed help raising money to push the Pacific War forward toward final victory. Consequently, Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes were drafted for a new form of service: soliciting citizen donations for the nation’s Seventh Bond Drive, “the Mighty 7th.”
Each of the flagraisers responded differently to this pressure. Bradley returned as quickly as possible to quiet civilian life as a funeral director in Wisconsin, and politely turned down all requests for interviews about his war years. Gagnon spent his post-war years waiting, sometimes bitterly, for his celebrity status to bring him a prosperity that never quite materialized. And Hayes slowly succumbed to alcoholism.
Some readers of Flags of Our Fathers will be aware that the U.S. Marine Corps, after an exhaustive investigation, concluded that the sixth flagraiser shown in The Photograph was not Jack Bradley, but rather was a U.S. Marine named Howard Schultz. Author James Bradley has said since then that he thinks his father was in the first photograph but believed he was in the second -- not that any of that takes away from Jack Bradley's heroism during the battle.
One finishes Flags of Our Fathers with a strong sense of the heroism of the Marines who fought at Iwo Jima – the engagement that Bradley calls “America’s most heroic battle” (p. 247). Perhaps part of the reason why this book speaks to me so strongly is because I live in Northern Virginia, a region where war and its remembrance are so prominent an aspect of the social and cultural landscape. Yesterday, for example, my wife and I took a visiting friend to Arlington National Cemetery. On the way home, we drove by the Iwo Jima Memorial, where Felix de Weldon's sculpture preserves the image from The Photograph as part of the official iconography of the Washington area.
And there is another reason why I am thinking of this book today, on this Father’s Day. My father, who served in the United States Navy as a lieutenant j.g., is buried with my mother at Arlington. On this Father’s Day, I find myself thinking about my father’s service to this nation, as Bradley has spent so much of his life thinking about his father’s service. Like Bradley’s father, my father came home from his military service, got married, built a career, and raised children in a safe, peaceful, secure, stable household. All of us who were fortunate enough to have a dad like Bradley’s father, or like my father, will find Flags of Our Fathers to be a particularly powerful reading experience.
March 9, 2008
I read the book before the movie. The movie, directed by Clint Eastwood is almost entirely dedicated to the book's last chapters where the author describes the after-war lives of the heroes - and yes, despite what Bradley and Eastwood believe, these men ARE heroes regardless of the father Bradley's protests.
After describing the battle and events of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi, the author describes how the men's lives turned sour as the US War Machine exploited them for the 7th War Bond Drive - and then abandoned them. That's one way of looking at it, I guess; but personally, I would rather read stories that inspire me, educate me, and lift my spirit. After all, this is why we read, isn't it? This book had potential to be great and could have earned 5 stars had it not taken the cynical twist that it did after the flag raising.
The last pages of the book somewhat angered me that the author would think so little of the men's well deserved recognition. They weren't heroes because they "happened to be at the right place, at the right time for an opportune photo" that subsequently became the symbol of America's sacrifice for freedom. They were heroes for setting foot on the island. Period. This is more than I can say for myself and it takes great fortitude to overcome a man's fears to face death, yet step onto that beach anyway.
Bradley and Eastwood just don't get it. The photo honors ALL the fallen veterans and honors ALL the parents who gave their sons during WWII. Family's back home suffered great anxiety, sorrow, and fear for their sons and this memorial is for them too - for their sacrifices. God bless the heroes who died in the waters at Iwo Jima's beaches, the heroes who gave all on the putrid island, the heroes who fought and died or survived in every engagement of this war, and God bless the HEROES who raised the flags on Mount Suribachi. God will reward them even if Bradley and Eastwood won't.
After describing the battle and events of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi, the author describes how the men's lives turned sour as the US War Machine exploited them for the 7th War Bond Drive - and then abandoned them. That's one way of looking at it, I guess; but personally, I would rather read stories that inspire me, educate me, and lift my spirit. After all, this is why we read, isn't it? This book had potential to be great and could have earned 5 stars had it not taken the cynical twist that it did after the flag raising.
The last pages of the book somewhat angered me that the author would think so little of the men's well deserved recognition. They weren't heroes because they "happened to be at the right place, at the right time for an opportune photo" that subsequently became the symbol of America's sacrifice for freedom. They were heroes for setting foot on the island. Period. This is more than I can say for myself and it takes great fortitude to overcome a man's fears to face death, yet step onto that beach anyway.
Bradley and Eastwood just don't get it. The photo honors ALL the fallen veterans and honors ALL the parents who gave their sons during WWII. Family's back home suffered great anxiety, sorrow, and fear for their sons and this memorial is for them too - for their sacrifices. God bless the heroes who died in the waters at Iwo Jima's beaches, the heroes who gave all on the putrid island, the heroes who fought and died or survived in every engagement of this war, and God bless the HEROES who raised the flags on Mount Suribachi. God will reward them even if Bradley and Eastwood won't.
July 28, 2022
In 1945, the Second World War was still raging in the Pacific Ocean. On the island of Iwo Jima one of the bloodiest battles from the war took place. When five Marines and an army doctor plant the American flag on a volcano, they instantly become famous in their home country. Only three managed to survive the slaughter and were haunted untill the end of their days.
James D. Bradley traces the lives of these 6 men, from the moment they joined the Marines untill they died. For John Bradley, Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes this meant well after the Second World War, as they were the only ones who survived.
Ira Hayes is the one who couldn't cope, Rene Gagnon the one who tried to capitalize and John Bradley the one who tried to forget.
Being the son of John Bradley, I was suprised this wasn't a biography, but actually a real good history book. He stays to the facts, and his descriptions of the actual battle(s) are on par with the best historians out there, while at the same time he manages to struck a personal cord by describing the relationship with his father. A truly 5 star read.
James D. Bradley traces the lives of these 6 men, from the moment they joined the Marines untill they died. For John Bradley, Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes this meant well after the Second World War, as they were the only ones who survived.
Ira Hayes is the one who couldn't cope, Rene Gagnon the one who tried to capitalize and John Bradley the one who tried to forget.
Being the son of John Bradley, I was suprised this wasn't a biography, but actually a real good history book. He stays to the facts, and his descriptions of the actual battle(s) are on par with the best historians out there, while at the same time he manages to struck a personal cord by describing the relationship with his father. A truly 5 star read.
November 11, 2013
On Veteran's Day and other such days when the mind wanders over the ultimate sacrifice made by brave men and women during our world's troubled times, for Americans there are few images more iconic than the picture of the flag raising on Iwo Jima during WWII.
Flags of Our Fathers was penned by James Bradley, the son of one of the men in that picture. This story is about that experience, what led up to it and what came after. It is more engaging and less depressing than expected. Certainly it is not all flag-waving victory for one and all involved. Bitter sorrow surrounded some of the participants. However, on the whole, that moment in time stands for hard fought victory. Today is a day to honor the idea behind the image, this metaphor for comradeship. Whenever you might read it, Bradley's book makes the reader feel as if everyday is Veteran's Day.
Flags of Our Fathers was penned by James Bradley, the son of one of the men in that picture. This story is about that experience, what led up to it and what came after. It is more engaging and less depressing than expected. Certainly it is not all flag-waving victory for one and all involved. Bitter sorrow surrounded some of the participants. However, on the whole, that moment in time stands for hard fought victory. Today is a day to honor the idea behind the image, this metaphor for comradeship. Whenever you might read it, Bradley's book makes the reader feel as if everyday is Veteran's Day.
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October 3, 2020Movie review
This was the first part of Clint Eastwood's bold experiment of making two films about the battle of Iwo Jima,from opposing perspectives.This is a fine film,though the other film,Letters from Iwo Jima,is even better.
Commercially,the film didn't succeed.The photograph of the US marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima is iconic.This is the story of those soldiers and what happened to them afterwards.
The battle scenes are good,as expected.However,the soldiers would not have an easy time of it afterwards.Three men are left alive from a squad of eight.When they are asked to identify the men in the photograph by the press,one is misidentified and that leads to trouble with the family of that man.
Of the three men left alive,one is a native American,he faces discrimination and becomes an alcoholic.Another has to become a janitor.The third one is more successful and tells the story to his son.
A good film,3.5 stars.
This was the first part of Clint Eastwood's bold experiment of making two films about the battle of Iwo Jima,from opposing perspectives.This is a fine film,though the other film,Letters from Iwo Jima,is even better.
Commercially,the film didn't succeed.The photograph of the US marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima is iconic.This is the story of those soldiers and what happened to them afterwards.
The battle scenes are good,as expected.However,the soldiers would not have an easy time of it afterwards.Three men are left alive from a squad of eight.When they are asked to identify the men in the photograph by the press,one is misidentified and that leads to trouble with the family of that man.
Of the three men left alive,one is a native American,he faces discrimination and becomes an alcoholic.Another has to become a janitor.The third one is more successful and tells the story to his son.
A good film,3.5 stars.
February 7, 2008
Flags of Our Fathers tells the amazing true story of Iwo Jima and The Photograph, by creating a fairly complete picture of the six boys/men in the photo. It recounts basic ideas of their childhoods and their training as Marines, the battle itself, and the lives of those who survived (including Bradley's father) after the war.
These men, who wanted nothing else but to be left alone, were thrust into the spotlight because of a lucky picture at a not-so-heroic moment in time. The picture became a sensation, the most reproduced photo, and the boys became heroes. They were very much heroes, not because of the flagraising, but for having done the same thing every other soldier had done on Sulfur Island--risking their lives for their country and their friends.
My basic assessment of the book is "Content: excellent. Execution: mediocre."
The middle of the book, which gives the details of the actual battle, was very compelling; I didn't want to put it down. However, the beginning and the end seemed redundant.
The problems with the book do not come from the unbelievable story or its scope, but they come in the structure. In the beginning, I was very frustrated by the sentence fluency, but after talking to a friend about the book (and reading further) I realized it was the organization that was lacking.
Bradley repeats the same ideas over and over. Really, the book could have been a lot shorter--a couple hundred pages shorter (my version was the short, fat one). I do wonder if the YA version would be less redundant without losing the great details. Also, he obviously has a bit of a bias, but it's to be expected, and I don't think it gets too in the way of the important details.
But through all of this, I am very glad that I read it. The information surprised/shocked me a little, but I don't know much about the Japan side of WWII. It's always good to be reminded of the horrors of war and to empathize with those who have been, who are going, and who have sent their loved ones. The story made me surprisingly more emotional than I would have thought.
These men, who wanted nothing else but to be left alone, were thrust into the spotlight because of a lucky picture at a not-so-heroic moment in time. The picture became a sensation, the most reproduced photo, and the boys became heroes. They were very much heroes, not because of the flagraising, but for having done the same thing every other soldier had done on Sulfur Island--risking their lives for their country and their friends.
My basic assessment of the book is "Content: excellent. Execution: mediocre."
The middle of the book, which gives the details of the actual battle, was very compelling; I didn't want to put it down. However, the beginning and the end seemed redundant.
The problems with the book do not come from the unbelievable story or its scope, but they come in the structure. In the beginning, I was very frustrated by the sentence fluency, but after talking to a friend about the book (and reading further) I realized it was the organization that was lacking.
Bradley repeats the same ideas over and over. Really, the book could have been a lot shorter--a couple hundred pages shorter (my version was the short, fat one). I do wonder if the YA version would be less redundant without losing the great details. Also, he obviously has a bit of a bias, but it's to be expected, and I don't think it gets too in the way of the important details.
But through all of this, I am very glad that I read it. The information surprised/shocked me a little, but I don't know much about the Japan side of WWII. It's always good to be reminded of the horrors of war and to empathize with those who have been, who are going, and who have sent their loved ones. The story made me surprisingly more emotional than I would have thought.
July 3, 2022
I had watched the movie a long time back - had loved it back then. Liked reading the book a bit more.
The book is about the US marines who had hoisted the US flag in the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during World War II, and were immortalized in the one of the most icon pictures in the history of mankind. In fact the book has been co-authored by the son of one of the said marines.
In my humble opinion, the authors have done a pretty good job of describing the nature and lives of the people in the picture, the military conquest and how the government and the media had " used" these men.
This book is not for everybody. There are graphic descriptions of violence which was unleashed when the marines had landed in the island. People interested in the picture, the US invasion of Iwo Jima or in World War II in general would like this book.
The book is about the US marines who had hoisted the US flag in the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during World War II, and were immortalized in the one of the most icon pictures in the history of mankind. In fact the book has been co-authored by the son of one of the said marines.
In my humble opinion, the authors have done a pretty good job of describing the nature and lives of the people in the picture, the military conquest and how the government and the media had " used" these men.
This book is not for everybody. There are graphic descriptions of violence which was unleashed when the marines had landed in the island. People interested in the picture, the US invasion of Iwo Jima or in World War II in general would like this book.
February 8, 2017
Full disclosure - I wasn't able to finish this book, so if you're one of those people who says you can't judge it til you finish, you don't need to read this. I, however, don't need to get to the end to know I just hated this book, and am writing a review to warn others and remind myself why I didn't finish it. I read a good amount of history stuff in this vein. Not a huge amount, but a lot more than the average American I think, and this is the only one I have come across so far that felt exploitative. After the first few chapters I started to feel like Bradley was trying to make a living off of his father's life. I tried to push through, give him the benefit of the doubt, but I got about half way through and the impression just deepened. That's when I checked the reviews on Goodreads and realized a lot of other people had the same impression. There was just too much of Bradley in it. It's not really their story, it's his, about his "epic" journey to publicize their lives. I can't really point to anything specific in the text, its just the overall impression I get.
The other thing that bothers me is that some of the details he shares from these men's lives are very personal. There's even a few where he talks about how it was a secret that they kept, they never wanted anyone to know, and yet here he is, publishing it for the world to see, making money off it. And a lot of them weren't relevant to the story either, it was just dramatic fodder. And yet, despite the fact that Bradley seems to have made a career out of this picture, he constantly downplays the importance of the moment, saying that they were just in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time. That's alright for his father to say, because its his experiences, his life. But you can't go around saying someone else's bravery was just luck. Sure, it was a lot of chance that put them in the actual picture, but the story isn't just the picture. And even if it was, they stand for all the soldiers, all the courage shown and sacrifices made. Bradley makes it sound like he doesn't think they should really be celebrated, because they just happened to be there. He misses the entire point.
As if all that wasn't bad enough, it's badly written, as in literally, the prose is bad. It rambles, its repetitive, it basically reads like a diary entry or a spoken story that hasn't been edited at all. A lot of it sounds kind of like Eat, Pray, Love, where the author is deeply meditating on something internal. Self-serving crap if you ask me, but I tend to be very literal, so if you find meaning in stuff like that, you may enjoy his writing style.
Basically, it was a badly written attempt to make money off someone else's pain.
The other thing that bothers me is that some of the details he shares from these men's lives are very personal. There's even a few where he talks about how it was a secret that they kept, they never wanted anyone to know, and yet here he is, publishing it for the world to see, making money off it. And a lot of them weren't relevant to the story either, it was just dramatic fodder. And yet, despite the fact that Bradley seems to have made a career out of this picture, he constantly downplays the importance of the moment, saying that they were just in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time. That's alright for his father to say, because its his experiences, his life. But you can't go around saying someone else's bravery was just luck. Sure, it was a lot of chance that put them in the actual picture, but the story isn't just the picture. And even if it was, they stand for all the soldiers, all the courage shown and sacrifices made. Bradley makes it sound like he doesn't think they should really be celebrated, because they just happened to be there. He misses the entire point.
As if all that wasn't bad enough, it's badly written, as in literally, the prose is bad. It rambles, its repetitive, it basically reads like a diary entry or a spoken story that hasn't been edited at all. A lot of it sounds kind of like Eat, Pray, Love, where the author is deeply meditating on something internal. Self-serving crap if you ask me, but I tend to be very literal, so if you find meaning in stuff like that, you may enjoy his writing style.
Basically, it was a badly written attempt to make money off someone else's pain.
December 11, 2023
Truly Outstanding
This is a thorough and complete account of the heroes of the Battle of Iwo Jima.
It has the unique ability to pull you right into the story, because of the personal anecdotes and real life examples.
On the several times throughout the book, I was fighting back tears. This is a book about real heroes not Hollywood celebrities playing a role These are people who would put their lives on their line for me and you. And they did.
One of the best books I’ve ever read, I highly recommend.
This is a thorough and complete account of the heroes of the Battle of Iwo Jima.
It has the unique ability to pull you right into the story, because of the personal anecdotes and real life examples.
On the several times throughout the book, I was fighting back tears. This is a book about real heroes not Hollywood celebrities playing a role These are people who would put their lives on their line for me and you. And they did.
One of the best books I’ve ever read, I highly recommend.
January 15, 2010
This wasn't a happy book, but I'm glad I read it. The author follows the lives of the five Marines and one Navy corpsman who raise the second American flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. I've always loved the Rosenthal photo, and the Marine Memorial based on the photo is my favorite in the DC area. Here are a few of my thoughts on the book:
I thought the first part of the book, covering the characters' childhoods, training, and the fight to take hell--I mean Iwo Jima--was better than the second part of the book, covering the the post-war period for the survivors. I like books to finish strong, so that was a bit disappointing.
I was vaguely aware that the famous photograph was really of the second "replacement" flag, but it was interesting to read about the details. The first flag raising was a big deal to all the Marines on the island. The main motivation behind putting up a new flag was because a Marine colonel overheard the Sec. of Navy say he wanted the original flag as a souvenir, so the colonel had the flag switched so his battalion could keep the original. Sending up a flag bigger than the first was an afterthought. No one on the island thought the second flag-raising was that big of a deal. And the famous photograph--the photographer didn't even look through the camera to grab it. It was just luck. I also didn't know that the battle for Iwo Jima continued on after the photo for a month.
I thought the author had a serious case of hero-worship for his father, one of the three flag-raisers that lived through the battle. Yes, his father was a wonderful, brave, caring man. I think the author was a little too hard on the other survivors because their post-war lives weren't as great. I also didn't like the author's conclusion that the flag-raisers weren't heroes. I disagree. Raising the flag wasn't really that special, but their other actions on Iwo Jima and during WWII (three of the flag-raisers also fought through Bougainville) did make them heroes several times over. Overall, the author drew too many conclusions--he should have just told the story and let the reader draw his or her own conclusions.
Like Band of Brothers, I found the most tragic casualties of war weren't the wounded or even the dead. It was the soldiers who made it back from the war--but never really lived normal lives because of what they experienced. I'm glad we've come a long way with post-traumatic stress disorder since then. I hope that very soon we won't have cause to go to war anymore.
I thought the first part of the book, covering the characters' childhoods, training, and the fight to take hell--I mean Iwo Jima--was better than the second part of the book, covering the the post-war period for the survivors. I like books to finish strong, so that was a bit disappointing.
I was vaguely aware that the famous photograph was really of the second "replacement" flag, but it was interesting to read about the details. The first flag raising was a big deal to all the Marines on the island. The main motivation behind putting up a new flag was because a Marine colonel overheard the Sec. of Navy say he wanted the original flag as a souvenir, so the colonel had the flag switched so his battalion could keep the original. Sending up a flag bigger than the first was an afterthought. No one on the island thought the second flag-raising was that big of a deal. And the famous photograph--the photographer didn't even look through the camera to grab it. It was just luck. I also didn't know that the battle for Iwo Jima continued on after the photo for a month.
I thought the author had a serious case of hero-worship for his father, one of the three flag-raisers that lived through the battle. Yes, his father was a wonderful, brave, caring man. I think the author was a little too hard on the other survivors because their post-war lives weren't as great. I also didn't like the author's conclusion that the flag-raisers weren't heroes. I disagree. Raising the flag wasn't really that special, but their other actions on Iwo Jima and during WWII (three of the flag-raisers also fought through Bougainville) did make them heroes several times over. Overall, the author drew too many conclusions--he should have just told the story and let the reader draw his or her own conclusions.
Like Band of Brothers, I found the most tragic casualties of war weren't the wounded or even the dead. It was the soldiers who made it back from the war--but never really lived normal lives because of what they experienced. I'm glad we've come a long way with post-traumatic stress disorder since then. I hope that very soon we won't have cause to go to war anymore.
November 22, 2008
Like most people, I had no idea what the real context was for the famous photograph of soldiers raising the US flag at Iwo Jima. Nor did I understand the military significance of that campaign, or the cost in lives it required (over 8000 US soldiers killed and almost 20,000 wounded; and over 20,000 Japanese killed). This book is presented as the story of the 6 men who appear in the photo. The first section gives their backgrounds and life stories, and dragged a bit, but made the rest much more personal (these were REAL PEOPLE involved in this struggle). The last part discusses the aftermath, particularly the struggle to cope emotionally with something as horrific as this kind of battle. But it's the middle section that grabs your heart. I've never seen such a vivid portrayal of combat, written in a way that portrayed the terror, the strategizing, the campaigns, and especially the incredible bravery and self-sacrifice. You come away with a deep appreciation for the discipline and loyalty of the Marine Corps; for the desperation but willing sacrifice of the Japanese defenders; and for those Americans who were "common men doing uncommon things" - truly heroes, in the purest sense of the word. I was lucky to read this book on planes to and from Florida, just in time for Memorial Day.
August 8, 2008
This was a good book, the intent of the author was good, but I didn't like so many personal comments from him. I don't care that he stared at the picture that this book is based around for hours at a time in a daze, or any other comments he made like that. I think that the fact that he added those into the book took away from honoring those he was writing about. It seemed selfish and cocky of him. His personal comments seemed more like a tribute to himself and his intellect than to those who fought in battle. Otherwise this book was good, the facts are solid and you are very anxious to find out more and more as the book goes on. I hope this doesn't sound too harsh, but this is how I feel about the book.
December 14, 2014
Incredibly good companion book to Bradley's "Flyboys" which makes my list of all-time great books.
January 24, 2013
WOW! And I don't even like non-fiction!
This story chronicles first the lives of the six men raising their flag on Iwo Jima, the American climate during war time and why they enlisted. Readers are then taken inch by pain staking inch up the beach of "fire island" through gun fire, death, fear, hunger, sleep deprivation and more. Slowly trodding up the hill where we experience a seemingly unremarkable flag replacement that became a photograph which to this day "iconicizes" the valor, determination, courage and strength that is a US Marine. Finally we follow the only two (of six) surviving men through the aftermath. This story is told by the son of one of the "heroes". He never knew his father was in that picture; he never spoke of it with him. After his death his sons found his Navy Cross and a box full of letters that led one son on a remarkable journey; chronicled here for us to experience alongside of him.
A truly life changing story.
This story chronicles first the lives of the six men raising their flag on Iwo Jima, the American climate during war time and why they enlisted. Readers are then taken inch by pain staking inch up the beach of "fire island" through gun fire, death, fear, hunger, sleep deprivation and more. Slowly trodding up the hill where we experience a seemingly unremarkable flag replacement that became a photograph which to this day "iconicizes" the valor, determination, courage and strength that is a US Marine. Finally we follow the only two (of six) surviving men through the aftermath. This story is told by the son of one of the "heroes". He never knew his father was in that picture; he never spoke of it with him. After his death his sons found his Navy Cross and a box full of letters that led one son on a remarkable journey; chronicled here for us to experience alongside of him.
A truly life changing story.
August 27, 2007
I don't often read historical nonfiction, but this book was superb; I was very moved by the countless acts of sacrifice made by the men who fought at Iwo Jima.
This is a riveting narrative about the six young American flag raisers in the famed picture. Author James Bradley is the son of corpsman John Bradley (one of the men in the photo) and it was only after his father's death when he began to piece together culminating events, as his father never talked about the war but for: "The heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who didn't come back." The book includes background on each man, subsequently proceeding to their enlistment, training, fighting, and of course the photograph. Only three of the six flag-raisers survived the battle.
Highly recommended. (And don't see the movie, it stinks.)
This is a riveting narrative about the six young American flag raisers in the famed picture. Author James Bradley is the son of corpsman John Bradley (one of the men in the photo) and it was only after his father's death when he began to piece together culminating events, as his father never talked about the war but for: "The heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who didn't come back." The book includes background on each man, subsequently proceeding to their enlistment, training, fighting, and of course the photograph. Only three of the six flag-raisers survived the battle.
Highly recommended. (And don't see the movie, it stinks.)
July 20, 2022
I never knew. Never knew just how much suffering and sacrifice those Marines went through, for so long, watching so much horror, just to secure that little black rock of an island, Iwo Jima.
And I never knew how normal such service was for their generation, and how humbly and quietly the author's dad went home and lived a good life and helped his community and raised a family and died just as simply as he'd wanted to live. That's what made him a hero, too.
I lost count of how many times I teared up reading this, from pride and shock and sadness and awe. This is one of the most powerful things I have ever read. I'm grateful to live in the same country these men served, and to enjoy the fruits of their fighting.
And I never knew how normal such service was for their generation, and how humbly and quietly the author's dad went home and lived a good life and helped his community and raised a family and died just as simply as he'd wanted to live. That's what made him a hero, too.
I lost count of how many times I teared up reading this, from pride and shock and sadness and awe. This is one of the most powerful things I have ever read. I'm grateful to live in the same country these men served, and to enjoy the fruits of their fighting.
June 22, 2012
Unreadable:
Book begins with the author detailing a trip Iwo Jima with family member where he took great delight in being photographed peeing off the side of the mountain monument dedicated to the battle that took place there. That is right this man by special permission was invited to the Japanese island of Iwo Jima and onto the Japanese military base and stood on a monument dedicated to the thousands of men who fought and died there and decided it would be awesome if he peed on all of it. I don't care if the men who fought there did that in some kind bolstering attempt to deal with what they had and would yet experience, that land is now sacred (as the author alludes to in the title of the chapter "Sacred Ground") and you just don't do that. Imagine if we reversed the situation and the son of one of the pilots who bombed Pearl Harbor was invited to the memorial site and decided to be photographed peeing of one of the monuments or into the water above the Arizona. And this is what the author wants you to know of himself. Classless, disgusting, and entirely without honor.
Sadly the book doesn't get better from there. It is full of repetitions, contradictions, cliches, and outright falsehoods (which are then, of course, repeated). The author continually switches from third person to first person (even inside the same paragraphs) and past tense to present tense. To give us a sense of the boys he is writing about he spoke with and quotes wives, mothers, brothers, and former fiancés (everyone of them named) of all the boys but one (needless to say every single one of these boys were saints and angels and rang entirely false). The one boy left out, Rene, was for some reason hated by the author who could barely bring himself to write anything at all about the boy and when he did detailed the varied flaws backed up by general quotes from unnamed "friends."
Moreover, the continual claims that the US contributed nothing to winning the war in Europe (entirely done by Russia it seems--something that would no doubt surprise my grandfather who landed on Utah Beach at Normandy) and no other country contributed to the US winning the "American War" in the Pacific added to the author's never-ending claims that the Marines single handedly won this "American War" while everyone else just were just bumbling idiots who cost the Marines their lives was beyond annoying and moved back into the realm of disgusting.
And my goodness, do a little research, man. The author briefly wonders why Ira (the Native American of the group) started drinking before the war. Let's see, I wonder if just maybe there is a little research out there about Native Americans and alcohol. It is too bad that the author couldn't muster up his oft-written abilities of staring into the famous picture to learn everything he needed to know about the men that raised that flag or hear their voices guiding him on his path of research. Maybe he could/should have asked Ira himself why he started drinking. (And while we are on the topic of Ira, there is not a trace of racism mentioned in the entire first half of the book. I don't buy that for a minute.) He did, however, seem to have been able to use this little "research" tool in discovering what the boys were thinking about things they "never discussed with a single living soul."
Can you tell yet that I was thoroughly disgusted by this book? It was poorly researched and poorly written--I imagine this has something to do with the difficulty Bradley faced in getting it published and why no historians (military or otherwise) were jumping up and down to offer reviews or forwards for the work.
**I only read the first half
Book begins with the author detailing a trip Iwo Jima with family member where he took great delight in being photographed peeing off the side of the mountain monument dedicated to the battle that took place there. That is right this man by special permission was invited to the Japanese island of Iwo Jima and onto the Japanese military base and stood on a monument dedicated to the thousands of men who fought and died there and decided it would be awesome if he peed on all of it. I don't care if the men who fought there did that in some kind bolstering attempt to deal with what they had and would yet experience, that land is now sacred (as the author alludes to in the title of the chapter "Sacred Ground") and you just don't do that. Imagine if we reversed the situation and the son of one of the pilots who bombed Pearl Harbor was invited to the memorial site and decided to be photographed peeing of one of the monuments or into the water above the Arizona. And this is what the author wants you to know of himself. Classless, disgusting, and entirely without honor.
Sadly the book doesn't get better from there. It is full of repetitions, contradictions, cliches, and outright falsehoods (which are then, of course, repeated). The author continually switches from third person to first person (even inside the same paragraphs) and past tense to present tense. To give us a sense of the boys he is writing about he spoke with and quotes wives, mothers, brothers, and former fiancés (everyone of them named) of all the boys but one (needless to say every single one of these boys were saints and angels and rang entirely false). The one boy left out, Rene, was for some reason hated by the author who could barely bring himself to write anything at all about the boy and when he did detailed the varied flaws backed up by general quotes from unnamed "friends."
Moreover, the continual claims that the US contributed nothing to winning the war in Europe (entirely done by Russia it seems--something that would no doubt surprise my grandfather who landed on Utah Beach at Normandy) and no other country contributed to the US winning the "American War" in the Pacific added to the author's never-ending claims that the Marines single handedly won this "American War" while everyone else just were just bumbling idiots who cost the Marines their lives was beyond annoying and moved back into the realm of disgusting.
And my goodness, do a little research, man. The author briefly wonders why Ira (the Native American of the group) started drinking before the war. Let's see, I wonder if just maybe there is a little research out there about Native Americans and alcohol. It is too bad that the author couldn't muster up his oft-written abilities of staring into the famous picture to learn everything he needed to know about the men that raised that flag or hear their voices guiding him on his path of research. Maybe he could/should have asked Ira himself why he started drinking. (And while we are on the topic of Ira, there is not a trace of racism mentioned in the entire first half of the book. I don't buy that for a minute.) He did, however, seem to have been able to use this little "research" tool in discovering what the boys were thinking about things they "never discussed with a single living soul."
Can you tell yet that I was thoroughly disgusted by this book? It was poorly researched and poorly written--I imagine this has something to do with the difficulty Bradley faced in getting it published and why no historians (military or otherwise) were jumping up and down to offer reviews or forwards for the work.
**I only read the first half
May 3, 2017
5Q 2P A/YA
James Bradley's book is a masterpiece of historical writing that will not wear down readers with heavy language or intimidate with hundreds of pages. This is a biography written about the five men who raised the United States flag on Mount Suribachi on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during the second World War. Bradley's father along with two other men Ira Hayes and Rene Gagnon survived the attack on the island and were sent home on orders from the United States government after a photograph of the scene had been sent home. The unforgettable picture became a national phenomena and would forever change the lives of the three surviving soldiers.
This book is a fascinating read as the author recreates the oral stories of these men from either direct conversation or other sources related to them. It will please any young reader who has interest in World War II or an American history enthusiast. The battle scenes described in this book allows the reader to become emotionally invested in the lives of these heroic men. The author holds nothing back when it comes to describing the horrors of pain and death in the battlefields.
Perhaps more impressive and unique is the author's ability to describe the home lives of the three men as they come back from fighting. Each man carries the burden of his trials in their own way. Again the author does not sugarcoat any of the domestic struggles these men went through. These honest accounts makes the reader reflect upon the misconceptions of glamourizing war, decorated home lives, and the invincible image of heroes. While not taking away from their courage and heroics on the battlefield, the author keeps these men humbled and human by not hiding anything. For example, one man Ira Hayes must deal with the fact that he is a Native American living in a white man's world. Without his uniform, he is nothing but another Indian drunk in the eyes of the public.
This book would not appeal to most young adult readers because of the content inside. Those looking for a John Wayne war story will want to look elsewhere. The imagery is very intense and graphic. The description of the domestic struggles of the three men is also not a pretty picture either, which might turn off some readers looking for a feel good story. Readers interested in the subject will definitely get into this title with no problem, but other than that it would likely take a lot of convincing to find other young adults to pick this one up.
James Bradley's book is a masterpiece of historical writing that will not wear down readers with heavy language or intimidate with hundreds of pages. This is a biography written about the five men who raised the United States flag on Mount Suribachi on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during the second World War. Bradley's father along with two other men Ira Hayes and Rene Gagnon survived the attack on the island and were sent home on orders from the United States government after a photograph of the scene had been sent home. The unforgettable picture became a national phenomena and would forever change the lives of the three surviving soldiers.
This book is a fascinating read as the author recreates the oral stories of these men from either direct conversation or other sources related to them. It will please any young reader who has interest in World War II or an American history enthusiast. The battle scenes described in this book allows the reader to become emotionally invested in the lives of these heroic men. The author holds nothing back when it comes to describing the horrors of pain and death in the battlefields.
Perhaps more impressive and unique is the author's ability to describe the home lives of the three men as they come back from fighting. Each man carries the burden of his trials in their own way. Again the author does not sugarcoat any of the domestic struggles these men went through. These honest accounts makes the reader reflect upon the misconceptions of glamourizing war, decorated home lives, and the invincible image of heroes. While not taking away from their courage and heroics on the battlefield, the author keeps these men humbled and human by not hiding anything. For example, one man Ira Hayes must deal with the fact that he is a Native American living in a white man's world. Without his uniform, he is nothing but another Indian drunk in the eyes of the public.
This book would not appeal to most young adult readers because of the content inside. Those looking for a John Wayne war story will want to look elsewhere. The imagery is very intense and graphic. The description of the domestic struggles of the three men is also not a pretty picture either, which might turn off some readers looking for a feel good story. Readers interested in the subject will definitely get into this title with no problem, but other than that it would likely take a lot of convincing to find other young adults to pick this one up.
June 11, 2013
Flags Of Our Fathers is a great read for anyone who is interested in U.S. history. The author, James Bradley, takes the reader through the lives of the 6 soldiers who raised the American flag on Iwo Jima. He lets the reader in on the lives of Harlon Block, Mike Strank, Franklin Sousley, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon, and his father Jack “Doc” Bradley. The fantastic thing about this book is that the author shares the stories of these men, from when they were boys to their fates in the end, and he does it evenly. Harlon Block was born to a very anti-violence Adventist mother who taught him not to kill, but as he grew up he entered the Marine Corps into the position of a parachutist, one of the most dangerous jobs in the Marines. Mike Strank was born in Czechoslovakia and grew up to be one of the toughest members of the U.S. Marine Corps; he was looked up to by the younger flag raisers and called the “old man” of the group. Franklin Sousley was born as a red-head in Hilltop, Kentucky to a family stricken by death, but he grew up to be a member of the Marine Corps: strong and courageous. Ira Hayes was born on an Indian reservation, was a quiet boy who grew into a quiet man, and became a parachutist in the U.S. Marines. Rene Gagnon was born in New Hampshire as a very shy guy and his life brought him to becoming a member of the Marine Corps. Jack Bradley had a different story from all the rest. He was born to a nice family in Wisconsin under the name of John and eventually joined the U.S. Navy in hopes of not having to meet combat. He worked in hospitals until he was brought unto the drastic change of combat. This book is extremely intriguing; once you pick it up, you cannot put it down. The author brings the reader a greater understanding of war and the views of the young men fighting in it. This book is a must read.
-Abby Chase
-Abby Chase
August 25, 2010
I feel slightly embarassed that nearly every piece of information presented in this book was completely new to me. I was surprised by the horror of the Pacific war and horrified by the clear truth that I (along with most Americans I suspect)know next to nothing about the history of our own country. This compounded by the fact that our media has a tendancy to report the "good story" instead of the "truth."
That's really what this book is about - it isn't a war story about relaying all the gritty details of this battle (although Bradley writes simply and straightforward about the remembered events of those long weeks, so readers intrested in a bit of gore won't be dissapointed), but what he is really conveying is the "rest of the story" behind the flagraising on Iwo and the resulting photograph that became a national addiction for a while, even though the American public was greatly mislead in what is actually happening in this photo. Mostly this book tells about the life stories of the six men captured in this photo.
That's really what this book is about - it isn't a war story about relaying all the gritty details of this battle (although Bradley writes simply and straightforward about the remembered events of those long weeks, so readers intrested in a bit of gore won't be dissapointed), but what he is really conveying is the "rest of the story" behind the flagraising on Iwo and the resulting photograph that became a national addiction for a while, even though the American public was greatly mislead in what is actually happening in this photo. Mostly this book tells about the life stories of the six men captured in this photo.
July 27, 2017
A must read for any WWII/history buff.
September 3, 2024
“Uncommon valor was a common virtue”
These words are inscribed on the United States Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington Ridge Park to remember the heroic acts of men who laid down their lives on the beaches of Iwo Jima. Equally, it could be said that in the face of extraordinary events, ordinary men became extraordinary.
In reading “Flags of our Fathers”, I was blown away by how normal each of the men were, who later became heroes in the battle of Iwo Jima. There was nothing special about them. They talked and thought just like any other normal person, but still they rose to the challenge when our country needed them to.
Personally, I think this is one of the greatest books on the subject of war that I’ve ever read, and likewise its a book I think every young man should read at some point in his life. If you’re not proud to be an American before reading this book, you will be after.
I cannot recommend it enough.
These words are inscribed on the United States Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington Ridge Park to remember the heroic acts of men who laid down their lives on the beaches of Iwo Jima. Equally, it could be said that in the face of extraordinary events, ordinary men became extraordinary.
In reading “Flags of our Fathers”, I was blown away by how normal each of the men were, who later became heroes in the battle of Iwo Jima. There was nothing special about them. They talked and thought just like any other normal person, but still they rose to the challenge when our country needed them to.
Personally, I think this is one of the greatest books on the subject of war that I’ve ever read, and likewise its a book I think every young man should read at some point in his life. If you’re not proud to be an American before reading this book, you will be after.
I cannot recommend it enough.
July 4, 2022
Best book I've read this year. Absolutely floored me. I loved learning about the six flagraisers and how the author would zoom in on their lives-- at home, during war, after-- and zoom out to give excellent context on the war, America, and Japan. Fascinating to read about the author and his complicated relationship with his own father (a flagraiser, eternally silent about his wartime experience), the truths and myths of Americana, and what war does to the spirit.
But my favorite part overall was that I was reading my grandfather's copy-- my mom had given it to him, a WWII vet, as a Father's Day gift in 2000 and my brothers, mom, and I all wrote little inscriptions on the first page, which still remain. I took it from his bookshelf years ago after he passed away. To know it was his and that he had read it, to see my mom's handwriting... it's as simple as that.
But my favorite part overall was that I was reading my grandfather's copy-- my mom had given it to him, a WWII vet, as a Father's Day gift in 2000 and my brothers, mom, and I all wrote little inscriptions on the first page, which still remain. I took it from his bookshelf years ago after he passed away. To know it was his and that he had read it, to see my mom's handwriting... it's as simple as that.
November 13, 2020
Flags of Our Fathers hits firmly in the historiographic tradition of 'Boomers writing about their Greatest Generation parents', as James Bradley literally writes about his father John Bradley, Navy Corpsman and one of the six people in the famous flag raising photo on Iwo Jima. This book began in silence, the elder Bradley said almost nothing about his service or his role in the photo to his family, and exceeds the mold in a serious evaluation of the wounds of war.
Bradley follows the six people in the photo, his father James Bradley, Sergeant Michael Strank, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, Ira Hayes, Harold Schultz, and Rene Gagnon, from their Great Depression childhoods, through enlistment and training, and then into the Battle of Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima was a nightmare. The entire island was riddled with fighting positions connected by a network of tunnels. Bombardment from sea and air did nothing to the bug in defenders. They would have to be pried out by Marines with rifles, grenades, and flamethrowers, at horrendous casualties. The five week was responsible for 26000 American causalities and a third of the Medals of Honors earned by the Marines Corps in the war. It was a frightful slaughter.
The Photograph is famous, but in a grim irony, entirely unmemorable at the time. The flag was raised on Mount Suribachi four days after the initial landings. Marines who had spent three days in grueling combat climbed the mountain without contact, and set up a smaller flag without photographers present. Bradley and a platoon of Easy Company was sent up with a larger flag later in the day. While simply being on Iwo Jima was heroic, the moment that the flag was raised was one of quietude. The Photograph was taken by Joe Rosenthal as a lucky snap, and became an instant icon.
Three of the six men in the photograph were already dead, killed in action, but the others were whisked off the island and became publicity figures for the 7th War Bond Drive. The survivors handled the publicity in different ways. Rene Gagnon never managed to capitalize on it in the way he thought he should, and died at 54 of a heart attack. Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian, had a tragic descent into alcoholism which Bradley reads as driven by untreated PTSD. John Bradley tried very hard to forget the war, building a life as a funeral director and pillar of the community in northern Wisconsin. When reporters called, his children were instructed to say he was fishing in Canada.
Flags of our Fathers is a solid social and personal history of a key moment in the war, with some moving antiwar rhetoric.
Bradley follows the six people in the photo, his father James Bradley, Sergeant Michael Strank, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, Ira Hayes, Harold Schultz, and Rene Gagnon, from their Great Depression childhoods, through enlistment and training, and then into the Battle of Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima was a nightmare. The entire island was riddled with fighting positions connected by a network of tunnels. Bombardment from sea and air did nothing to the bug in defenders. They would have to be pried out by Marines with rifles, grenades, and flamethrowers, at horrendous casualties. The five week was responsible for 26000 American causalities and a third of the Medals of Honors earned by the Marines Corps in the war. It was a frightful slaughter.
The Photograph is famous, but in a grim irony, entirely unmemorable at the time. The flag was raised on Mount Suribachi four days after the initial landings. Marines who had spent three days in grueling combat climbed the mountain without contact, and set up a smaller flag without photographers present. Bradley and a platoon of Easy Company was sent up with a larger flag later in the day. While simply being on Iwo Jima was heroic, the moment that the flag was raised was one of quietude. The Photograph was taken by Joe Rosenthal as a lucky snap, and became an instant icon.
Three of the six men in the photograph were already dead, killed in action, but the others were whisked off the island and became publicity figures for the 7th War Bond Drive. The survivors handled the publicity in different ways. Rene Gagnon never managed to capitalize on it in the way he thought he should, and died at 54 of a heart attack. Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian, had a tragic descent into alcoholism which Bradley reads as driven by untreated PTSD. John Bradley tried very hard to forget the war, building a life as a funeral director and pillar of the community in northern Wisconsin. When reporters called, his children were instructed to say he was fishing in Canada.
Flags of our Fathers is a solid social and personal history of a key moment in the war, with some moving antiwar rhetoric.
March 2, 2015
I enjoyed this book. It was a non-fiction book of the flag raising on Iwo Jima. It wasn't a regurgitation of his research, but a thoughtful expression of the facts as they were compiled. The author's father was one of the men who were there that day and helped raise the flag. His father survived what was described as a month long massacre.
I found this book thought provoking. On one hand, this iconic picture was a beacon of hope to the American people, who sent there sons, brothers and fathers off to war. Who made sacrifices and continued to do so with rations, women in the work force and the purchasing of war bonds. But those who actually survived this particular 'skirmish' (only about 20 percent survived) had a hard time recovering from the things they witnessed and didn't like the term "hero" applied to them just because they were the few who lived to walk off that island. In their minds, the heroes were the fallen soldiers. Maybe a better word would have been 'survivor'. I don't know. But it offered food for thought.
I found this book thought provoking. On one hand, this iconic picture was a beacon of hope to the American people, who sent there sons, brothers and fathers off to war. Who made sacrifices and continued to do so with rations, women in the work force and the purchasing of war bonds. But those who actually survived this particular 'skirmish' (only about 20 percent survived) had a hard time recovering from the things they witnessed and didn't like the term "hero" applied to them just because they were the few who lived to walk off that island. In their minds, the heroes were the fallen soldiers. Maybe a better word would have been 'survivor'. I don't know. But it offered food for thought.
March 24, 2021
The book behind the film, it could be read along with "Letters from Iwo Jima". To give the perspective from the other side. And, please, reader, step away from the myth that the US alone won the Second World War. Far from it.
September 13, 2023
A book hasn’t affected me this much in a long time. Overwhelmingly tragic and devastatingly sad, but inspires me to be better. 1000/5 stars.
November 25, 2020
This book is a high 3 for me for a few reasons.
I love books on war and think they should be read more often because of the insight to the reality of war, evil, and the need for protection and preparation. The author did a good job of objectively explaining some of the horrors the Japanese military have committed over the years, and for the most part he didn’t seem too biased towards the American military, but just recorded people’s thoughts.
A reason I did not like this book begins with the author not explaining how there is something called “fog of war” and stories and people’s understanding of what happened to them and others can often be remembered incorrectly. The author did little citing throughout his book and it’s often hard to believe everything he wrote should just be taken as fact and true. I haven’t looked too much into it, but I know there’s a lot of debate now about the six flag-raisers being the six that he claimed. He often wrote about how his father forgot much of the war intentionally, but seems to take one persons claim of how things happened as truth. Also, he seemed to make every flag-raiser out to be great people that everyone loved dearly all throughout the beginning. I understand people might be hesitant to talk bad about the deceased, especially the flag-raisers, but I equally find it hard to believe no one had anything bad to say about any of them. He got into some of their bad qualities later in the book, but they still seem too idolized in my opinion.
Anyways, good read. Always interesting to gain perspective on war and especially one as devastating as the battle of Iwo Jima.
I love books on war and think they should be read more often because of the insight to the reality of war, evil, and the need for protection and preparation. The author did a good job of objectively explaining some of the horrors the Japanese military have committed over the years, and for the most part he didn’t seem too biased towards the American military, but just recorded people’s thoughts.
A reason I did not like this book begins with the author not explaining how there is something called “fog of war” and stories and people’s understanding of what happened to them and others can often be remembered incorrectly. The author did little citing throughout his book and it’s often hard to believe everything he wrote should just be taken as fact and true. I haven’t looked too much into it, but I know there’s a lot of debate now about the six flag-raisers being the six that he claimed. He often wrote about how his father forgot much of the war intentionally, but seems to take one persons claim of how things happened as truth. Also, he seemed to make every flag-raiser out to be great people that everyone loved dearly all throughout the beginning. I understand people might be hesitant to talk bad about the deceased, especially the flag-raisers, but I equally find it hard to believe no one had anything bad to say about any of them. He got into some of their bad qualities later in the book, but they still seem too idolized in my opinion.
Anyways, good read. Always interesting to gain perspective on war and especially one as devastating as the battle of Iwo Jima.
March 12, 2024
Riveting Account of Iwo Jima.
I really enjoyed this book. James Bradley, (son of John Bradley) does an excellent job giving a riveting account of the six young Americans that raised the American Flag on Mount Suribachi.
Bradley gives an excellent amount of background information on each of the six flag raisers making them come alive.
His details of the battle are detailed vividly giving you a harrowing and gruesome glimpse of what it was like during one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War.
Bradley’s account for life after the war fell short for me. You get a small glimpse of what post-war life was like for the three survivors. He gives very little detail with repetition at times.
Overall I really enjoyed this book! It was very moving that left me with tears in my eyes at times. Highly recommend to anyone whether or not you love historical nonfiction as it gives great detail making the story come to life.
I really enjoyed this book. James Bradley, (son of John Bradley) does an excellent job giving a riveting account of the six young Americans that raised the American Flag on Mount Suribachi.
Bradley gives an excellent amount of background information on each of the six flag raisers making them come alive.
His details of the battle are detailed vividly giving you a harrowing and gruesome glimpse of what it was like during one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War.
Bradley’s account for life after the war fell short for me. You get a small glimpse of what post-war life was like for the three survivors. He gives very little detail with repetition at times.
Overall I really enjoyed this book! It was very moving that left me with tears in my eyes at times. Highly recommend to anyone whether or not you love historical nonfiction as it gives great detail making the story come to life.
October 12, 2021
“The vast, specialized city of men - boys, really, but a functioning society of experts now, trained and coordinated and interdependent and ready for its mission - will move out upon the Pacific. Behind them, in safe America, Bing Crosby sang of a white Christmas, just like the ones he used to know. Ahead lay a hot island of black sand, where many of them would ensure a long future of Christmases in America by laying down their lives.”
Great story that gives me a deeper appreciation for the WWII generation’s sacrifice and humility. We tend to look down on older generations as less enlightened… we haven’t a clue.
Great story that gives me a deeper appreciation for the WWII generation’s sacrifice and humility. We tend to look down on older generations as less enlightened… we haven’t a clue.
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