thedrifter
05-18-07, 08:58 AM
LETTER: Marine deserves recognition for Iwo Jima
May 18, 2007 6:01 AM
I just finished viewing "Flags of Our Fathers." My father, Sgt. Ludger A. Champagne, U.S. Marine, appears in the photographic credits three times at least. I can imagine the expression on his face seeing his images on the big screen.
All of my attempts to bring this news to the local paper and the military museum have been ignored. To think that New Bedford would not honor one of its own for such an accomplishment speaks to the jerkwater nature of my hometown, with the piles of dog feces, litter, Hummers on the sidewalks, rampant crime, corruption and downright stupidity.
Some photographs appearing at the end of the Clint Eastwood film are from U.S. Marine Corps archives and are contained in the book "The Third Marine Division," a copy of which was handed down to me. That copy (along with medals, dog tags and photographs) which contained several photos of my father along with his handwritten remarks in the margins, is in the hands of the military museum at Fort Taber.
The significance here is that Dad's images were selected by Eastwood and company for inclusion in the blockbuster movie. My now-deceased father was a resident of New Bedford for most of his life — in other words, a local hero. He personally knew one of the Marines, Ira Hayes I believe, pictured in the famed flag raising at Iwo Jima, which he witnessed from the deck of the USS Texas with binoculars before hitting the beach.
He was one the finest examples, as I (and Eastwood) see it, of what has been variously reported as 70,000 to 110,000 Marines on the eight square miles that made up the island, the first Japanese possession to be captured.
Apparently a photographer was following him for a long time, snapping photos of him throughout the war. As a matter of fact, I believe him to be the most photographed of all. How the photographer kept up with him without getting hurt, I'll never know.
Philip Champagne
New Bedford
Ellie
May 18, 2007 6:01 AM
I just finished viewing "Flags of Our Fathers." My father, Sgt. Ludger A. Champagne, U.S. Marine, appears in the photographic credits three times at least. I can imagine the expression on his face seeing his images on the big screen.
All of my attempts to bring this news to the local paper and the military museum have been ignored. To think that New Bedford would not honor one of its own for such an accomplishment speaks to the jerkwater nature of my hometown, with the piles of dog feces, litter, Hummers on the sidewalks, rampant crime, corruption and downright stupidity.
Some photographs appearing at the end of the Clint Eastwood film are from U.S. Marine Corps archives and are contained in the book "The Third Marine Division," a copy of which was handed down to me. That copy (along with medals, dog tags and photographs) which contained several photos of my father along with his handwritten remarks in the margins, is in the hands of the military museum at Fort Taber.
The significance here is that Dad's images were selected by Eastwood and company for inclusion in the blockbuster movie. My now-deceased father was a resident of New Bedford for most of his life — in other words, a local hero. He personally knew one of the Marines, Ira Hayes I believe, pictured in the famed flag raising at Iwo Jima, which he witnessed from the deck of the USS Texas with binoculars before hitting the beach.
He was one the finest examples, as I (and Eastwood) see it, of what has been variously reported as 70,000 to 110,000 Marines on the eight square miles that made up the island, the first Japanese possession to be captured.
Apparently a photographer was following him for a long time, snapping photos of him throughout the war. As a matter of fact, I believe him to be the most photographed of all. How the photographer kept up with him without getting hurt, I'll never know.
Philip Champagne
New Bedford
Ellie