thedrifter
04-07-08, 08:36 AM
Iwo Jima author to speak at Bethany
4/7/2008
By GARY DEMUTH
Salina Journal
James Bradley never thought of his father as one of "the" flag-raisers.
To his son, John Bradley was just a funeral director in Antigo, Wis., a local businessman who led a quiet life, attended his sons' sports events and never spoke about his experiences as a Marine in the Pacific during World War II.
Whenever phone calls came from newspaper and television reporters to ask John about "the" event, James and his siblings were instructed to say their father was in Canada fishing.
"He had an affliction, and it was called 'the Iwo Jima picture,' " James Bradley said.
John Bradley was one of the six Marines who, on Feb. 23, 1945, raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima. The act was captured in a photograph by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, who won the Pulitzer Prize for the picture. The photo became one of the most distributed and reproduced photos ever taken.
The iconic image was reprinted in countless newspapers and magazines, was issued as a postage stamp and became the model for the Marine Corps War Memorial at Arlington, Va.
Prodded by his silence
It was his father's silence about the photo that led James Bradley to write the book "Flags of Our Fathers," a story of the six Marines who raised the flag on that fateful day. It became a New York Times best-seller in 2000 and was made into a movie in 2006 by Clint Eastwood.
Bradley will give a lecture today at Presser Hall on the Bethany College campus as part of the Johnson Lecture Series.
The subject of Bradley's speech is "Doing the Impossible."
"It's about visualizing your way to success, using examples from history," said Bradley in a telephone interview.
A decade ago, Bradley never visualized himself as a best-selling author. He was a salesman who had never written anything close to a book before. But after his father's death in 1994, Bradley felt compelled to find the reason behind his father's silence.
"I was 44 and didn't know why my dad didn't talk about it," he said.
After spending several years researching the battle of Iwo Jima, Bradley had his answer.
"(My dad) was involved in a massacre," Bradley said. "About 7,000 dead Marines and 22,000 Japanese were killed on Iwo Jima."
Veterans of the battle described Iwo Jima as the closest thing to hell on earth. The Japanese had built 16 miles of tunnels connecting about 1,500 different underground rooms, Bradley said. Their orders were to kill at least 10 American Marines before they were killed.
"The Japanese were not on Iwo Jima -- they were in it," Bradley said. "When the Marines landed, there was nothing to shoot at, nothing to see."
Bradley's father was a medical corpsman. His objective was to get the wounded back to battle as soon as possible -- those that lived, that is.
A Marine who served with Bradley's father told Bradley, "Have you ever held a broken egg in your hand? That's how your dad and I felt when we held some of these soldiers' heads."
As Bradley researched his book, he realized he wasn't just telling the story of the six flag-raisers but of the thousands of Marines who would never leave the tiny island.
"I wanted to get out a message about common virtue," he said. "These boys were all heroes, and I wanted to write a book about what they did."
Of the six flag-raisers, three -- Mike Strand, Harlon Block and Franklin Sousley -- were killed at Iwo Jima just days after the flag-raising. The survivors, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon and Bradley's father, lived in the shadow of the flag-raising the rest of their lives.
Surprisingly, when the book was finished, more than 25 publishers turned it down.
"I hadn't written anything before," Bradley said. "But when it was published, it became a No. 1 best- seller."
Bush and the 'Flyboys'
His second book, 2003's "Flyboys," was the harrowing story of eight naval aviators who crash-landed near Chichi Jima, the island next to Iwo Jima. They were captured, beheaded, and in some cases parts of their bodies were eaten by their Japanese captors.
Two of the flyboys were from Kansas -- Dick Woellhof of Clay Center and Glenn Frazier of Athol.
For years, Bradley said, the families of the eight flyboys never knew what happened to their loved ones. Bradley was able to access Japanese documents that had been suppressed for decades to find the truth behind their disappearances.
A ninth aviator, who miraculously escaped capture, became the 41st President of the United States -- George H.W. Bush.
One of Bradley's most vivid memories while writing "Flyboys" is accompanying former President Bush to Japan to retrace the last flights of the doomed flyboys.
During the visit, Bradley said, he had a hard time picturing Bush as anything but the 21-year-old lost and scared pilot that Bradley characterized in his book.
"He was just a flyboy to me, and that's all we discussed during the trip," Bradley said. "(Bush's) attitude was the same as my dad's -- the real heroes were the ones that never came back."
Compelling subjects
Bradley currently is working on his third book, "The Imperial Cruise." It recounts the 1905 diplomatic mission to the Far East headed by President Theodore Roosevelt's secretary of war, William Howard Taft, 21-year-old Alice Roosevelt and 23 senators and congressmen who sailed on a Titanic-like ship from San Francisco to Japan, the Philippines, China and Korea.
The book is due to be released in fall 2009, Bradley said.
Bradley said he feels lucky to have found such compelling subjects for his books.
"You can't make any of this stuff up," Bradley said. "(In 'Flyboys,') the guy who gets away becomes president of the United States. Just a bunch of accidents allowed him to escape.
"What could the others have become had they been saved? What did we lose? That's the real atrocity of war."
nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.
EVENT: Speech by James Bradley, author of "Flag of Our Fathers" and "Flyboys."
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. today.
WHERE: Presser Hall, Bethany College, Lindsborg.
ADMISSION: Free.
INFORMATION: (785) 227-3311.
Following the lecture, Bradley will sign books at the Sandzen Memorial Gallery at Bethany College. Copies of "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Flyboys" will be available for purchase.
Ellie
4/7/2008
By GARY DEMUTH
Salina Journal
James Bradley never thought of his father as one of "the" flag-raisers.
To his son, John Bradley was just a funeral director in Antigo, Wis., a local businessman who led a quiet life, attended his sons' sports events and never spoke about his experiences as a Marine in the Pacific during World War II.
Whenever phone calls came from newspaper and television reporters to ask John about "the" event, James and his siblings were instructed to say their father was in Canada fishing.
"He had an affliction, and it was called 'the Iwo Jima picture,' " James Bradley said.
John Bradley was one of the six Marines who, on Feb. 23, 1945, raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima. The act was captured in a photograph by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, who won the Pulitzer Prize for the picture. The photo became one of the most distributed and reproduced photos ever taken.
The iconic image was reprinted in countless newspapers and magazines, was issued as a postage stamp and became the model for the Marine Corps War Memorial at Arlington, Va.
Prodded by his silence
It was his father's silence about the photo that led James Bradley to write the book "Flags of Our Fathers," a story of the six Marines who raised the flag on that fateful day. It became a New York Times best-seller in 2000 and was made into a movie in 2006 by Clint Eastwood.
Bradley will give a lecture today at Presser Hall on the Bethany College campus as part of the Johnson Lecture Series.
The subject of Bradley's speech is "Doing the Impossible."
"It's about visualizing your way to success, using examples from history," said Bradley in a telephone interview.
A decade ago, Bradley never visualized himself as a best-selling author. He was a salesman who had never written anything close to a book before. But after his father's death in 1994, Bradley felt compelled to find the reason behind his father's silence.
"I was 44 and didn't know why my dad didn't talk about it," he said.
After spending several years researching the battle of Iwo Jima, Bradley had his answer.
"(My dad) was involved in a massacre," Bradley said. "About 7,000 dead Marines and 22,000 Japanese were killed on Iwo Jima."
Veterans of the battle described Iwo Jima as the closest thing to hell on earth. The Japanese had built 16 miles of tunnels connecting about 1,500 different underground rooms, Bradley said. Their orders were to kill at least 10 American Marines before they were killed.
"The Japanese were not on Iwo Jima -- they were in it," Bradley said. "When the Marines landed, there was nothing to shoot at, nothing to see."
Bradley's father was a medical corpsman. His objective was to get the wounded back to battle as soon as possible -- those that lived, that is.
A Marine who served with Bradley's father told Bradley, "Have you ever held a broken egg in your hand? That's how your dad and I felt when we held some of these soldiers' heads."
As Bradley researched his book, he realized he wasn't just telling the story of the six flag-raisers but of the thousands of Marines who would never leave the tiny island.
"I wanted to get out a message about common virtue," he said. "These boys were all heroes, and I wanted to write a book about what they did."
Of the six flag-raisers, three -- Mike Strand, Harlon Block and Franklin Sousley -- were killed at Iwo Jima just days after the flag-raising. The survivors, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon and Bradley's father, lived in the shadow of the flag-raising the rest of their lives.
Surprisingly, when the book was finished, more than 25 publishers turned it down.
"I hadn't written anything before," Bradley said. "But when it was published, it became a No. 1 best- seller."
Bush and the 'Flyboys'
His second book, 2003's "Flyboys," was the harrowing story of eight naval aviators who crash-landed near Chichi Jima, the island next to Iwo Jima. They were captured, beheaded, and in some cases parts of their bodies were eaten by their Japanese captors.
Two of the flyboys were from Kansas -- Dick Woellhof of Clay Center and Glenn Frazier of Athol.
For years, Bradley said, the families of the eight flyboys never knew what happened to their loved ones. Bradley was able to access Japanese documents that had been suppressed for decades to find the truth behind their disappearances.
A ninth aviator, who miraculously escaped capture, became the 41st President of the United States -- George H.W. Bush.
One of Bradley's most vivid memories while writing "Flyboys" is accompanying former President Bush to Japan to retrace the last flights of the doomed flyboys.
During the visit, Bradley said, he had a hard time picturing Bush as anything but the 21-year-old lost and scared pilot that Bradley characterized in his book.
"He was just a flyboy to me, and that's all we discussed during the trip," Bradley said. "(Bush's) attitude was the same as my dad's -- the real heroes were the ones that never came back."
Compelling subjects
Bradley currently is working on his third book, "The Imperial Cruise." It recounts the 1905 diplomatic mission to the Far East headed by President Theodore Roosevelt's secretary of war, William Howard Taft, 21-year-old Alice Roosevelt and 23 senators and congressmen who sailed on a Titanic-like ship from San Francisco to Japan, the Philippines, China and Korea.
The book is due to be released in fall 2009, Bradley said.
Bradley said he feels lucky to have found such compelling subjects for his books.
"You can't make any of this stuff up," Bradley said. "(In 'Flyboys,') the guy who gets away becomes president of the United States. Just a bunch of accidents allowed him to escape.
"What could the others have become had they been saved? What did we lose? That's the real atrocity of war."
nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.
EVENT: Speech by James Bradley, author of "Flag of Our Fathers" and "Flyboys."
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. today.
WHERE: Presser Hall, Bethany College, Lindsborg.
ADMISSION: Free.
INFORMATION: (785) 227-3311.
Following the lecture, Bradley will sign books at the Sandzen Memorial Gallery at Bethany College. Copies of "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Flyboys" will be available for purchase.
Ellie