Six Boys And Thirteen Hands...

Each year I am hired to go to Washington , , with the eighth grade class
from Clinton , WI where I grew up, to videotape their trip. I greatly enjoy
visiting our nation's capitol, and each year I take some special memories
back with me.This fall's trip was especially memorable.

On the last night of our trip, we stopped at the Iwo Jima memorial. This
memorial is the largest bronze statue in the world and depicts one of the
most famous photographs in history -- that of the six brave soldiers raising
the American Flag at the top of a rocky hill on the island of Iwo
Jima,Japan, during WW II.

Over one hundred students and chaperones piled off the buses and headed
towards the memorial. I noticed a solitary figure at the base of the statue,
and as I got closer he asked, "Where are you guys from?"

I told him that we were from Wisconsin "Hey, I'm a cheese head, too! Come
gather around, Cheese heads, and I will tell you a story."

(James Bradley just happened to be in Washington , DC , to speak at the
memorial the following day. He was there that night to say good night to his
dad, who had passed away. He was just about to leave when he saw the buses
pull up. I videotaped him as he spoke to us, and received his permission to
share what he said from my videotape. It is one thing to tour the incredible
monuments filled with history in Washington, D.C., but it is quite another
to get the kind of insight we received that night.)

When all had gathered around, he reverently began to speak. (Here are his
words that night.)

"My name is James Bradley and I'm from Antigo, Wisconsin My dad is on that
statue, and I just wrote a book called "Flags of Our Fathers" which is #5 on
the New York Times Best Seller list right now. It is the story of the six
boys you see behind me.

"Six boys raised the flag. The first guy putting the pole in the ground is
Harlon Block. Harlon was an all-state football player. He enlisted in the
Marine Corps with all the senior members of his
football team.. They were off to play another type of game: A game called
"War." But it didn't turn out to be a game. Harlon, at the age of 21, died
with his intestines in his hands. I don't say that to gross you out, I say
that because there are people who stand in front of this statue and talk
about the glory of war. You guys need to  know that most of the boys in Iwo
Jima were 17, 18, and 19 years old - and it was so hard that the ones who
did make it home never even would talk to their families about it.

(He pointed to the statue) "You see this next guy? That's Rene Gagnon from
New Hampshire . If you took Rene's helmet off at the moment this photo was
taken and looked in the webbing of that helmet, you would find a
photograph... a photograph of his girlfriend. Rene put that in there for
protection because he was scared. He was 18 years old. It was just boys who
won the battle of Iwo Jima . Boys. Not old men.

"The next guy here, the third guy in this tableau, was Sergeant Mike Strank.
Mike is my hero. He was the hero of all these guys. They called him the "old
man" because he was so old. He was already 24. When Mike would motivate his
boys in training camp, he didn't say, 'Let's go kill some Japanese' or
'Let's die for our country.' He knew he was talking to little boys. Instead
he would say, 'You do what I say, and I'll get you home to your mothers.'

"The last guy on this side of the statue is Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian from
Arizona . Ira Hayes was one who walked off Iwo Jima . He went into the White
House with my dad. President Truman told him, 'You're a hero.' He told
reporters, 'How can I feel like a hero when 250 of my buddies hit the island
with me and only 27 of us walked off alive?' So you take your classat
school, 250 of you spending a year together having fun, doing everything
together. Then all 250 of you hit the beach, but only 27 of your classmates
walk off alive.. That was Ira Hayes. He had images of horror in his mind.
Ira Hayes carried the pain home with him and eventually died dead drunk,
face down at the age of 32. (ten years after this picture was taken).

"The next guy, going around the statue, is Franklin Sousley from Hilltop,
Kentucky . A fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. His best friend, who is
now 70, told me, 'Yeah, you know, we took two cows up on the porch of the
Hilltop General Store. Then we strung wire across the stairs so the cows
couldn't get down. Then we fed them Epsom salts. Those cows crapped all
night.' Yes, he was a fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. Franklin died on Iwo Jima at
the age of 19. When the telegram came to tell his mother that he was dead,
it went to the Hilltop General
     Store. A barefoot boy ran that telegram up to his mother's farm. The
neighbors could hear her scream all night and into the morning. Those
neighbors lived a quarter of a mile away.

     "The next guy, as we continue to go around the statue, is my dad, John
Bradley from Antigo, Wisconsin , where I was raised. My dad lived until
1994, but he would never give interviews. When Walter Cronkite's producers
or the New York Times would call, we were trained as little kids to say "No,
I'm sorry, sir, my dad's not here. He is in Canada fishing. No, there i no
phone there, sir. No, we don't know when he is coming back." My dad never
fished or even went to Canada . Usually, he was sitting there right at the
table eating his Campbell 's soup. But we had to tell the press that he was
out fishing. He didn't want to talk to the press.

     "You see, like Ira Hayes, my dad didn't see himself as a hero.
Everyone thinks these guys are heroes, 'cause they are in a photo and on a
monument. My dad knew better. He was a medic. John Bradley from Wisconsin
was a caregiver. In Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died.
And when boys died in Iwo Jima , they  writhed and screamed, without any
medication or help with the pain.

     "When I was a little boy, my third grade teacher told me that my dad
was a hero. When I went home and told my dad that, he looked at me and said,
'I want you always to remember that the heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who
did not come back. Did NOT come back.'

     "So that's the story about six nice young boys. Three died on Iwo Jima
, and three came back as national heroes. Overall, 7,000 boys died on Iwo
Jima in the worst battle in the history of the Marine Corps. My voice is
giving out, so I will end here.
     Thank you for your time."

     Suddenly, the monument wasn't just a big old piece of metal with a
flag sticking out of the top. It came to life before our eyes with the
heartfelt words of a son who did indeed have a father who was a hero. Maybe
not a hero for the reasons most people would believe, but a hero
nonetheless.

     We need to remember that God created this vast and glorious world for
us to live in, freely, but also at great sacrifice.

     Let us never forget from the Revolutionary War to the current War on
Terrorism and all the wars in-between that sacrifice was made for our
freedom.

     Remember to pray praises for this great country of ours and also pray
for those still in murderous unrest around the world.

     God Bless You and God Bless

     REMINDER: Everyday that you can wake up free, it's going to be a great
day..

     PS . One thing I learned while on tour with my 8th grade students in
DC that is not mentioned here is that if you look at the statue very closely
and count the number of "hands" raising the flag, there are 13. When the man
who made the statue was asked why there were 13, he simply said the 13th
hand was the hand of God.

     Great story - worth your time - worth every American's time

*************************************************************************
The next time you feel that God can't use you, just remember
Noah was a drunk.
Jacob was a liar.
Zaccheus was too small.
Abraham was too old.
Jeremiah & Timothy were too young.
David had an affair and was a murderer.
Elijah was suicidal.
Jonah ran from God.
Peter denied Christ.
The Disciples fell asleep while praying.
AND
Lazarus was dead!