Flags
of Our Fathers
by James Bradley and Ron Powers
The Battle of Iwo Jima, fought in the winter of 1945 on a rocky island
south of Japan, brought a ferocious slice of hell to earth: in a month's
time, more than 22,000 Japanese soldiers would die defending a patch of
ground a third the size of Manhattan, while nearly 26,000 Americans fell
taking it from them. The battle was a turning point in the war in the Pacific,
and it produced one of World War II's enduring images: a photograph of
six soldiers raising an American flag on the flank of Mount Suribachi,
the island's commanding high point.
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 - Amazon.com
Hardcover: 384 pages (May 2, 2000)
Bantam Doubleday Dell Pub (Trd); ISBN: 0553111337
Iwo
Jima : Legacy of Valor
by Bill D. Ross
Paperback - 380 pages (June 1986)
Random House
(Paper); ISBN: 0394742885
Iwo
Jima 1945 : The Marines Raise the Flag on Mount Suribachi (Campaign, 81)
by Derek Wright
(Paperback - April 2001)
Immortal
Images : A Personal History of Two Photographers and the Flag Raising on
Iwo Jima
by Tedd Thomey (Hardcover - June 1996)
Hungry
for Wood : An American Memoir from the Shores of Iwo Jima to the Tundra
of Alaska
by Herb Rhodes
(Paperback - January 2001)
Texas
Granite : Story of a World War II Hero
by Mary Hartman
Texas Granite is the story of Jack Lummus, winner of the Medal of Honor
for his actions as a Marine in the storming of Iwo Jima in World War II.
(Paperback - January 1998)
The
Bloody Battle for Suribachi (Bluejacket Books)
by Richard Wheeler
(Paperback - October 1994)
Nightmare
on Iwo
by Patrick F. Caruso
(Hardcover - October 2001)
A
Marine Remembers Iwo Jima : Dog Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Marines, Fifth
Marine Division
by Alfred R. Stone
(Hardcover - October 2000)
The
First Battalion of the 28th Marines on Iwo Jima : A Day-By-Day History
from Personal Accounts and Official Reports, With Complete Muster Rolls
by Robert E. Allen
(Hardcover - October 1999)
Combat
Surgeon : Up Front on Iwo Jima With the 27th Marines
by James S. Vedder
(Hardcover - August 1984)
Special Order
Iwo
Jima: Red Blood, Black Sand--Pacific Apocalypse
by Charles W. Tatum
(Paperback - January 2002)
Special Order
Shadow of Suribachi: Raising the Flags on Iwo Jima
by Parker Bishop, Jr. Albee, Keller Cushing Freeman
(Hardcover)
Out of Print - Try Used
Books
Related
Sections
