The Battle of Iwo Jima, fought in the winter of 1945 on a
rocky island south of Japan, brought a ferocious slice of hell to
earth: in a month's time, more than 22,000 Japanese soldiers would
die defending a patch of ground a third the size of Manhattan,
while nearly 26,000 Americans fell taking it from them. The battle
was a turning point in the war in the Pacific, and it produced one
of World War II's enduring images: a photograph of six soldiers
raising an American flag on the flank of Mount Suribachi, the
island's commanding high point.
One of those young Americans was John Bradley, a Navy corpsman
who a few days before had braved enemy mortar and machine-gun fire
to administer first aid to a wounded Marine and then drag him to
safety. For this act of heroism Bradley would receive the Navy
Cross, an award second only to the Medal of Honor.
Bradley, who died in 1994, never mentioned his feat to his
family. Only after his death did Bradley's son James begin to piece
together the facts of his father's heroism, which was but one of
countless acts of sacrifice made by the young men who fought at Iwo
Jima. Flags of Our Fathers recounts the sometimes tragic life
stories of the six men who raised the flag that February day--one
an Arizona Indian who would die following an alcohol-soaked brawl,
another a Kentucky hillbilly, still another a Pennsylvania
steel-mill worker--and who became reluctant heroes in the bargain.
A strongly felt and well-written entry in a spate of recent books
on World War II, Flags gives a you-are-there depiction of that
conflict's horrible arenas--and a moving homage to the men whom
fate brought there. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to the
Hardcover edition.
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