-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Brack [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2005 5:05 AM
To: Larry & Carlotta Brack
Subject: Fw: Six Boys Who Helped Put Up The American Flag on Iwo Jima
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gene Stucky" <[email protected]>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:>
Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2005 12:20 AM
Subject: Six Boys Who Helped Put Up The American Flag on Iwo Jima
> Freedom isn't free. The saddest thing is when the ultimate for our
> freedom is given and it goes
> unappreciated... Gayle
>
> A 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 generals 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 he 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.
>
>
> God Bless.
>
>
From: Larry Brack [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2005 5:05 AM
To: Larry & Carlotta Brack
Subject: Fw: Six Boys Who Helped Put Up The American Flag on Iwo Jima
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gene Stucky" <[email protected]>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:>
Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2005 12:20 AM
Subject: Six Boys Who Helped Put Up The American Flag on Iwo Jima
> Freedom isn't free. The saddest thing is when the ultimate for our
> freedom is given and it goes
> unappreciated... Gayle
>
> A 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 generals 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 he 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.
>
>
> God Bless.
>
>
