Flags of Our Fathers

By James Bradley with Ron Powers

This is a biography of six heroes who exhibited great valor in the battle of Iwo Jima.  These six men raised the American flag over that tiny island in the Pacific.  A picture was taken of them in the act, and it turned out to be the most famous picture in the history of warfare.

John Bradley, the father of the author, was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, to a poor family.  Living in the Depression was hard, and John helped raise money as a paper boy to support the family.  On January 13, 1943, he enlisted in the Navy, hoping to avoid close combat. He was nineteen.

Born on September 19, 1925, in Hilltop, Kentucky, Franklin Sousley began at an early age assisting his parents’ farm tobacco.  The family lived without electricity, and the house was heated by a potbellied stove.  Franklin’s father died in 1934 when Franklin was nine years old. Suddenly there was a need for a new man in the family.  Being a hard worker, Franklin fit the bill well and became the new provider in his father’s absence.  He joined the Marines in 1944.

Harlon Block was born in 1924 to fruit farmers living in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. He was slowly introduced to work on the farm and turned out to be a good worker that never complained.  Harlon’s mother was a devout Seventh-Day Adventist that trained her children in those beliefs.  The family soon moved to Weslaco, Texas; a small town like the one they had just moved from in the Valley.  Shortly after moving, the family traded their current occupation of farming for the more profitable job of hauling crude oil.  Every one of the Block boys worked alongside their father as they grew older.  By 1934, he was off to war with the Marines as a parachutist.

A Pima Indian, Ira Hayes lived on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Arizona.  He was a quiet person, very cold and solitary.  To this day, Ira has been a mystery to all who have known him or have researched his life.   He joined the Marines on August 26, 1942.

On March 7, 1925, Rene Gagnon was born in Manchester, New Hampshire.  His mother divorced his father while Rene was an infant, because his father was unfaithful.  From childhood, Rene worked with his mother in the Amoskeag Clothing Mills.  He enlisted in the Marines in May of 1943, at age 18.

Born Mychal Strenk in Jarabenia, Czechoslovakia, on November 10, 1919, he was brought to America after his father, who had already immigrated, raised the needed funds for his family to follow.  Upon arriving in the United States, his name was translated to Michael Strank, and he lived with his family in Franklin Borough, Pennsylvania, a steel milling and mining town.  His father had the backbreaking and dangerous job of working in a mine.  To support his family, Mike joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, which paid $57 a month.  When the Nazis were overrunning his homeland of Czechoslovakia, Strank signed on with the Marines on October 6, 1939, becoming the only one of the flag raisers to enlist before World War II.  He became the “old man” of his company who would not live to be twenty-five.

On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was attacked by the Japanese without warning.  At this time, Mike Strank was 21 and a corporal in the Marines.  Ira Hayes was 18 and a sophomore in high school.  John Bradley was 18 and working for a funeral home license.  Harlon Block was 17 and a Junior.  Franklin Sousley was 16 and fulfilling his junior year of high school.  Rene Gagnon was 15 and a sophomore; it was his last year of school.

In 1942, Mike Strank had become a part of the Raiders, one of the toughest outfits in the Pacific Theater.  He landed on Uvea and Pavuvu, encountering little opposition.  The Battle of Bougainville was a totally different story since it was Japan’s last stronghold in the South Pacific.  The Marines had to endure centipedes three fingers wide whose bite caused excruciating pain for a day, nearly impenetrable jungles, millions of insects, bottomless mangrove swamps, man-eating crocodile-infested rivers, lizards, and scorpions, not to mention the Japanese opposition.  The battle was called Bloody Bougainville, and it was exactly that - a true horror to those that fought it.

The other five future flag raisers had started their military careers, too.  Ira Hayes had earned his USMC Paratrooper wings by late 1942.  He landed on Vella Lavella on October, 1943.  Harlon Block landed on New Caledonia four days before Christmas, 1943.  He and Hayes were both on their way to Bougainville shortly.  John Bradley avoided becoming a Seabee after joining the Navy in 1943.  He was placed in charge of caring for burned veterans in Oakland, California, after being trained as a military doctor.   Rene Gagnon had just signed with the Marines in May, 1943.  He was serving in the Military Police in January of 1944, at the Navy Yard in Charleston, South Carolina.  Franklin Sousley enlisted with the Marines on January 5, 1944.

Mike, Harlon, and Ira came home from Bougainville completely changed after seeing the horrors of war.  They were very serious and didn’t joke as they used to.  Nightmares plagued them and sleep was difficult.  Mike and Harlon thought that they would not come back from the next battle.

Camp Pendleton had one purpose: to train Marines for the coming battle of Iwo Jima.  This is where the six flagraisers met up and trained together.  They all were assigned to E Company, nicknamed Easy Company, part of the 5th Division.  Easy Company consisted of 250 men who were divided into a headquarters section, three rifle platoons, a machine-gun platoon, and a 60mm-mortar section.  Each platoon consisted of forty men divided into four squads.   Mike Strank, Harlon Block, Ira Hayes, and Franklin Sousley were in the 2nd Platoon.  Sargent Strank commanded a squad with three corporals that answered to him.  Corporal Block had Private First Class Hayes and Private First Class Sousley reporting to him.   John Bradley was a Navy corpsman assigned to the 3rd Platoon.  Rene Gagnon was in a part of Easy Company.  After six months at Camp Pendleton, the 5th Division was moved to Camp Tarawa on the island of Hawaii.  It was similar to Camp Pendleton in that it was dry and barren.  This was the 5th Division’s last stop before Iwo Jima.

Just before heading off to what was known as Island X to the Marines of the 5th Division, a liberty was issued, and all the Marines went to Honolulu to party.  It was the last many of those men would see of their homeland, because the next day they were off to Iwo Jima.

70,000 Marines were headed off to Island X, with 1322 pounds of gear for each one of those 70,000 men.  When the armada neared the destination, the identity of Island X was revealed, and the troops were briefed.  Upon arriving at Iwo Jima, a bombardment greater than any seen before in the history of war was centered directly at that tiny island.  The men of Easy Company went to their landing crafts along with the other Marines to face 22,000 elite Japanese soldiers ready and waiting to die.

D-Day began when the first wave of Marines landed and stepped out of their landing boats.  Nothing happened, just silence.  Eleven more waves landed and still nothing.  An hour passed and then a storm of machine guns, coastal defense guns, and mortars erupted all over the beach.  Confusion reigned and death was everywhere.  Some were dazed from the terrible carnage that resulted from the intense fire and had to be kicked awake by their officers. Amazingly, in this incredible firestorm, the Marines still grouped and started for their objectives. The great frustration was that their enemy could not be seen.  There was no indication that the Marines’ return fire was having any affect.  If one of the enemy was killed or wounded, his comrades would pull him back into their cave.  The Marines still would not be intimidated.  Some of the wounded men would get patched up enough by a corpsman so they could go back and join their buddies.  At the end of the day, fighting had claimed half of the lives lost in the entire Guadalcanal battle.

The second day of the campaign was very similar to the first.  The cost was a total of 3,500 casualties, and the Marines only controlled a mile and a half of the island.

Easy Company and the 5th Division attacked Mount Suribachi, the island’s volcano, on the third day of fighting.  More heroes on that day were awarded honors for their great valor than have ever been awarded in one day.  A barrage was laid on the mountain before the infantry attack, along with heavy bombing by carrier planes.  The men of E Company were ready to move out, but their tank support had not arrived yet.  The tanks had not been able to refuel because of mortar fire and, therefore, were delayed.  The commander of Easy Company waited as long as was possible before ordering the attack on Suribachi.  Still the tanks did not show up, and there was no choice but to order the charge.  Many Marines ran to their death without the cover of tanks, but they pressed on.  Wounded officers would not leave their men when told to evacuate. Soldiers smothered grenades with their bodies to save their buddies.  Corpsmen ran under intense fire to assist wounded or dying men.  By the end of the day, the Marines had made it to the base of the mountain.  Suribachi’s capture was in sight.  The total number of American casualties for the conflict had risen to 644 killed, 4,168 wounded, and 560 missing in action.  It was truly a day of heroism.

Day four amounted to heavy rain, pounding surf, and fire fights around the base of the volcano.  The Japanese in the mountain knew that the end was near.  One hundred and fifty left Suribachi and raced for their forces in the north.  The Marines took advantage of being able to see their enemy and eliminated all but 25 of them.

On February 23, 1945, the fifth day of the Iwo Jima campaign, Suribachi was burnt to a crisp with napalm dropped from planes.  Around 9:00 a.m., the planes stopped bombing the mountain, and an order was given to send up two four-man patrols.  Only one made it to the top and looked into the crater.  As they returned to their base, the base commander ordered that a platoon of forty men should now be sent up and that they should take an American flag to put up if they made it to the top.  The platoon cautiously began the climb up the near-vertical northern face of Mount Suribachi, blowing up the Japs’ caves as they went.  They made it to the top about 10:00 a.m. and found a pole with which to set up the flag with.  The pole turned out to be a pipe with a bullet hole in it, but it suited the purpose well and was used.  The flag went up twenty minutes late.  All the Marines on the island started to cheer and shout.  The ships out around the island started blowing their whistles.  The mountain had finally been conquered.

In four millennia, this was the first time a flag of an invader had been placed on Japanese soil.  The colonel, who had ordered the patrol to climb the volcano, realized his flag was now famous, and he wanted it back.  Quickly, he ordered that someone find a replacement flag.  A new flag, was found and the 2nd Platoon was ordered to take it up the mountain along with a phone line.   Mike, Harlon, Franklin, Rene, and Ira started their trek up the steep slope of Suribachi.  Upon reaching the top, they got busy searching for a piece of pipe and setting up rocks as a base for the flagpole.  John Bradley, who had come up the mountain with the first platoon, was asked to give them a hand .  At this time, an Associated Press photographer, Joe Rosenthal, had just reached the top of the mountain to photograph the first flag raising.  He saw two Marines lugging an iron pipe toward a third Marine holding the replacement flag.  Instantly, he reached for his camera hoping to get a flag raising shot even though the first flag had already been raised.  The flags were to be raised and lowered simultaneously according to the lieutenant commanding the top of the mountain.  Mike, Harlon, Ira, Franklin, Rene and John grasped the pole and raised the replacement flag.  Just as this was happening, Joe Rosenthal snapped a picture.  It was this picture that is the most famous picture in the history of warfare.

What were the lives like of these six men after the war? Did all of them survive the war? In what way did this world-famous picture affect their lives? If you want to know, then read this incredibly detailed story that reveals the truth of the great battle of Iwo Jima and portray the amazing courage of the men who fought it.

Josh McCurdy

11th Grade

March 8, 2007

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:WW2_Iwo_Jima_flag_raising.jpg

Fair use rationale in this book report.

The picture depicts a non-reproducible historical event, critical to this article. The use is educational, and the information is critical to the article. The commercial value of the photograph is not significantly reduced by its use on the article.