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Loading... Flags of Our Fathersby James Bradley
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. 1   ladycato | Jan 14, 2009 |  An excellent book, which tempers justified triumphant tones with the sadness of life's complexity. (  ) YaacovLozowick | Jan 1, 2009 | I mean it's O.K. (  ) wwe121424 | Oct 27, 2008 | This is the ACTUAL story of the flag raisers. The movie had very little relationship to this book. Semper Fi and thanks to the Corpsmen. (  ) tmstimbert | Sep 6, 2008 | Flags of our Fathers' is not only the story of the raising of the flag at Iwa Jima, is is a study of the Marines and of the men who knew that there were ideas that were much bigger than themselves or their individual rights. It is a story of how these men were trained , and how it was ingrained in their minds that Marines never leave marines behind. Time after time you see how ordinary men preformed extraordinary feats. This is a book that should be read by every young man before he graduates form high school. It should be read by everyone before they become a citizen. This is a book in which the author does not seek to be "fair and balanced" but rather he seeks to tell the truth as it was. It is the story of how America was used to defeat an evil empire and the men of the greatest generation. ( ) morryb | Jul 28, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
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One of those young Americans was John Bradley, a Navy corpsman who a few days before had braved enemy mortar and machine-gun fire to administer first aid to a wounded Marine and then drag him to safety. For this act of heroism Bradley would receive the Navy Cross, an award second only to the Medal of Honor.
Bradley, who died in 1994, never mentioned his feat to his family. Only after his death did Bradley's son James begin to piece together the facts of his father's heroism, which was but one of countless acts of sacrifice made by the young men who fought at Iwo Jima. Flags of Our Fathers recounts the sometimes tragic life stories of the six men who raised the flag that February day--one an Arizona Indian who would die following an alcohol-soaked brawl, another a Kentucky hillbilly, still another a Pennsylvania steel-mill worker--and who became reluctant heroes in the bargain. A strongly felt and well-written entry in a spate of recent books on World War II, Flags gives a you-are-there depiction of that conflict's horrible arenas--and a moving homage to the men whom fate brought there. --Gregory McNamee
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:03 -0400)
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It was an intriguing read, starting slow with the backgrounds of the flag raisers and then become downright intense during the battle scenes. Wow. I'm guessing the battle descriptions were written by Mr. Powers, and I must say they were astounding. Horryifying, yet astounding. The six men who raised the second flag are described in great detail, but the seventh character is just as interesting - The Photograph. The Photograph takes on a life of its own as a symbol and propaganda tool, even as terrible gossip becomes accepted as fact due to inept, hasty reporting. The Photograph haunts the survivors till their deaths, and it could be argued that it exacerbated them (especially in the tragic case of Ira Hayes). It's really a beautifully done tribute to the Marines killed on Iwo Jima, and the lingering impact that this sulfur island had on the ones who miraculously survived. Very good, thought-provoking book. (