| James Bradley
Announcer: Boeing presents another in a series of essays from
contemporary opinion leaders. Today, historian and author of
the book Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley, commemorating
the 60th anniversary of the historic flag raising at Iwo Jima.
Mr. Bradley: My father, John Bradley, was one of the guys
who raised the flag on Iwo Jima. But he never talked much about
that famous photo.
After my dad died in 1994, my family discovered three cardboard
boxes, neatly stacked, deep in a dark closet of his office.
A secret collection of memories. A letter caught my eye. It
was dated February 26, 1945, three days after the historic
Iwo Jima flag raising.
To his folks, twenty-two-year-old John Bradley wrote: “I
had something to do with raising the American flag and it was
the happiest moment of my life.”
I cried when I read those words . . . wondering why my dad
had been unable to share that happy moment with me, his son.
So I went on a quest and learned that Iwo Jima stands today
as the Marines’ toughest battle. And it is America’s
most heroic moment.
The six boys raising the flag, five plus my father, have become
a symbol for all of the Marines at Iwo Jima. And maybe even
a symbol for all who serve.
They were boys of common virtue.
Called to duty.
Brothers and sons. Friends and neighbors.
And fathers.
When I was nine years old I told my father that my third grade
teacher had announced to my class that my dad was a hero. My
father paused for a second and then looked at me seriously,
as if he wanted to imbed an idea in my young brain. Then he
said, “I want you to always remember . . . that the heroes
of Iwo Jima . . . are the guys who didn’t come back.”
Announcer: Boeing. Forever New Frontiers.
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