Flags of our Fathers
The battle of Iwo Jima has been viewed as one of the fiercest battles that ground units fought in World War II. The war began with the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. Franklin Roosevelt responded to the people by saying, “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” In 1941, Japan had a very “experienced army and immense navy.” The strategy of Japan was to destroy the United States navy ability so Japan could continue its expansion. The United States now had the challenge of defeating the two most dominant world powers that were trying to expand its Communism government. The Japanese looked to be unstoppable. A critical crisis arose when the United States discovered that the Japanese had placed an airstrip on Guadalcanal that endangered Australia and the allies in the South Pacific.
In the fall of 1942, that perception changed with the Marine’s victory at Guadalcanal, which was the first American land battle of World War II. The United States plan to defeat Japan was known as island hopping. The first island invaded by the Marines was Guadalcanal and the second was Bougainville. It wasn’t until 1943 that the six soldiers who raised the flag would be brought together in E Company. The invasion of Iwo Jima was the first mission that these soldiers would fight with each other. On a military map, you would see the shape of Iwo Jima landscape as white. But the white would be almost completely filled by black dots that represented weapons that would fire at them as they entered Green Beach. The Japanese had almost every deadly weapon available. They had “coastal defense guns, dual-mount dual purpose guns, covered artillery emplacements, rifle pits, foxholes, anti tank guns, machine guns, blockhouses, pill boxes, and earth covered structures.” The reason that it was so heavily guarded is because the Japanese looked at Iwo Jima as homeland.
The island goes far back in the tradition of Japanese culture as being the island of holy realm. In the minds of the Japanese, the Americans might as well have been invading the homeland. The strategy by the United States to overcome the weaponry that was instilled on the island, Iwo Jima was bombed continuously for seventy-two consecutive days creating a record for the most bombed target in the Pacific War. The problem with the air attacks was that the result was the opposite of what to be expected. Reconnaissance photos showed that at the beginning of the bombing, 450 defensive installations were in place. After the bombing, it had been increased to 750. The strategy that would be used by the ground troops at Iwo Jima can be credited to a Marine officer of World War I, Holland M. “Howlin Mad” Smith. This veteran came up with the idea that “American boys must be trained to master more exacting combat skills, including the concept of amphibious warfare… once on land the Marines, armed with rifles, grenades, and flamethrowers, would destroy a well-entrenched enemy.” That is exactly what happened in the battle of Iwo Jima.
The battle was extremely challenging because of the mindset that the Japanese troops were brainwashed with. The Japanese were encompassed by tradition. The code of honor ran deep within the veins of all Japanese soldiers. This tradition is traced back to the code of “way of the warrior” in the samurai society. The Japanese military took this code and applied it by portraying “death in battle as honor to the family and a heroic act on the part of the individual.” General Tadamichi Kuribayashi was in charge of Japanese troops at Iwo Jima. Documents have shown that he knew Americans would win the battle. He also knew that Tarawa and Bougainville had killed many American soldiers and had caused American people to question the military’s ability to win the war. This led to General Kuribayashi ordering his Japanese troops to “kill ten Americans before you die.” This book focused on the heroic Marine soldiers that placed the second American flag on top of Mount Suribachi that was photographed symbolizing “our country’s conquest of that volcanic island, even though the fighting would rage for another month.” What it may look may not be what it is.
This not only represents the flag rising but the invasion itself. American intelligence had evaluated the island as having only 13,000 Japanese troops. In reality, there were 22,000 Japanese soldiers. The only way to invade the island was a 2 mile beach located at the Southeast shoreline. It ended up being a killing field that the American forces would have to funnel through to enter the interior of the island. The Marines had no knowledge of the intricacy of the underground fortress. The Japanese mining engineers had created thirty to fifty feet deep tunnels that had “ventilation, food and water, and other supplies.” There were also escape exits and even hospitals complete with surgical equipment and operating tables. One hospital could treat four hundred men on stone beds carved into the rock walls. This underground system made for “one of the most highly fortified islands in World War II.” This seems almost ironic for an island that is only five and half miles long and two miles wide. The book states that “a car driving sixty miles an hour could cover its length in five and a half minutes.”
The Marines had to sacrifice their lives through a month of severe warfare. The first wave in the invasion started at 9:05 A.M. The vehicles that arrived were slowed down from the deep sand so the soldiers had to carry on in front of them. It was calm and quiet when the Marines first started filling the beach. It wasn’t until 20 minutes after the first wave landed that the first Japanese fire was heard. Blockhouses with machine guns were set up all along the ground facing the ocean. Not only were machine guns hitting the exposed soldiers on the beach but Suribachi was being used to fire “mortors, heavy artillery shells, and machine gun rounds.” Easy Company’s leader recalls the beginning attack by saying, “I was watching an Amtrak to the side of us as we went in, then there was this enormous blast and it disappeared… everything just vaporized.” Soldiers tried frantically to dig trenches for cover but the sand presented no protection. One Marine stated, “More and more boats kept landing with more guys coming onto the beach. You had to just push the guy in front of you. It was like pushing him to his death.” The first wave was described as, “not getting hit was like running through rain and not getting wet.”
The Marines didn’t hesitate and continued to advance the entrenched position. The leadership played a major role in the ability to push forward. Mike Strank was squad leader and maintained composure at all times. Lloyd Thompson recalls seeing Mike Strank, “sitting upright, emptying the sand out of his boots. Just as if nothing was happening.” He would continuously be yelling things like, “Don’t bunch up! Don’t be like a bunch of bananas!” By day four of the battle, 644 Marines had been killed and 4,169 had been injured. Mount Suribachi was finally being neutralized. The first flag that was brought to the top of the mountain was only fifty-four feet by twenty eight inches. A forty man patrol began the climb to the top of Mount Suribachi. At 10:20 A.M, five men “thrust the pole upright in the gusty wind, the first foreign flag ever to fly over Japanese soil.” The second flag was placed as a replacement flag. The only difference was that Joe Rosenthal captured the ideal picture to give confidence in the war. The original flag was brought down the mountain and presented to Colonel Johnson, who put it in the battalion safe. The six flag holders didn’t even know the impact that had been caused back on the homefront. The first flag was placed by Hansen, Thomas, and Schrier that became the symbol of victory for the Marines on the island.
The flag placed by these soldiers was “the first flag ever planted in four thousand years on the soil of Japan.” The book was written by the son of one of the flag raisers, John Bradley. The photograph taken of these six soldiers became of the most famous photographs to depict World War II. The picture was taken on a 550 foot volcanic crater called Mount Suribachi that was surrounded below by the “black volcanic sands” that made up the beach. The photograph actually falsely represented the status of fighting on Iwo Jima. The photo gave the impression that the island had been conquered but in reality, the worst was far from over. Japanese snipers were still frequently firing upon the soldiers, Mike Strank was killed by a U.S destroyer, Japanese soldiers were using suicide raids, and 20,000 Japanese defenders were still fighting. Captured Marines were commonly tortured in ways that would sicken the minds of any who would see the remains of the body. Admiral Chester Nimitz also gave the American people a false representation of the battle still being fought.
On March 14, he stated “all powers of government of the Japanese Empire in these islands are hereby suspended.” The truth was that Marines were still being killed. By March 21, the Marines had been constantly attack for a month. The book places it well by saying “the battle was for yards, feet, and sometimes inches… sleep deprived, undernourished, hardened to the routine of constant death, the boys shuffled forward in a trancelike state.” The magnitude behind this battle cannot be properly understood without the facts from the aftermath. It claimed the lives of 25,851 U.S casualties and almost all the 22,000 Japanese forces on the island fought to the death. 91 of these soldiers were wounded but returned to battle. Two out of every three American soldiers were killed. The battle of Iwo Jima gave out more medals of honor than any other battle in the history of American war. In one month, twenty seven medals of Honor were given to those who performed selfless heroic actions on the island.
This was one third of the total MOH given. Eighty-four Medal of Honors were given throughout the four year time span of World War II. Each one of these Marines in the photograph had to survive unspeakable odds on land that offered the soldiers no advantage. The names of these soldiers are Mike, Harlon, Franklin, Ira, Rene, and Doc. Mike Strank was the oldest of the six with two years of service experience. He was their leader and sergeant. In the photograph, Strank is the only soldier that doesn’t have his right hand on the pole. The reason for this is because it is helping a younger soldier push the pole upwards. Selfless service was intertwined with his character. Harlon Block was a seventeen year old high school athlete for the Weslaco Panthers. He became second in command behind Mike Strank. He was killed hours later. When the photograph was first brought to the public, his mother quickly identified him in the picture even before the names of the soldiers in the photograph were announced. She never faltered even when Harlon was misidentified for 18 months. It was announced that Harry Hansen was in the picture and not Harlon.
Franklin Sousley was a sixteen year old junior in high school who rushed home everyday to help his family with chores. Franklin was the last of the flag raiser to die on Iwo Jima. When his mother was told of his death, “you could hear her screaming clear across the fields at the neighbor’s farm.” Ira Hayes was an eighteen year old sophomore at Phoenix Indian School. In the military, he was quiet and steady and respected by the other Marines who fought with him. He returned from the war to fall into a habitual habit of drinking and being arrested. He didn’t find the pride of living when he was one of the few to return from his military family alive. Rene Gagnon was just fifteen years old when he enlisted. He was the first survivor to return back to the United States and was modest about his achievements throughout his life. Last is John Bradley who recently graduated high school and was working on getting his Wisconsin funeral director’s license. For the son James Bradley, the words about his father’s heroic effort in being a corpsman on the battlefield were never spoken. He would carry his memories into his sleep where his wife Elizabeth said he wept at night for four years. Not until he died and found his journals and letters were the details revealed.
Sculpture Felix de Weldon created a magnificent piece of artwork to remember the heroes, all heroes. It took the sculpture six years to make a much larger replication of the six basic figures. When completed, the statue was 110 feet tall and weighed 100 tons. The cost was $850,000 which all of that was through donations. I would like to end with the conversation between John Bradley and his son James Bradley: “’Dad!’ I exclaimed. ‘Look! Theres your picture! My teacher says you’re a hero and she wants you to speak to my class. Will you give a speech?’ My father didn’t answer me right away. He closed the door and walked me gently over to the kitchen table. He sat down across from me. He took my textbook and looked at the photograph. Then he gently closed the book. After a moment he said, “I can’t talk to your class. I’ve forgotten everything’… He said ‘I want you to always remember something. The heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who didn’t come back.” After reading the book I realized the great character that is embedded within the United States. It is because of these individuals who sacrifice their life that freedom is possible. The qualities that make up a hero are sacrifice, determination, loyalty, courage, dedication, perseverance, fortitude, and bravery. Every one of these six soldiers fit into this category, they are heroes.
Source
Bradley, J. (2001). Flags of our Fathers. New York: Laurel-Leaf.
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