Flags of our Fathers

This movie strikes close to home for me on many levels. Clint Eastwood and crew deliver one of the best movies of the year with this film based on the true story of the 5 U.S. Marines and one Navy Corpsman who raised our flag above Mt. Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima 23 February 1945. The movie follows the book of the same name by James Bradley who is the son of one of the surviving Flag Raisers, John "Doc" Bradley. The movie ebbs and flows from the battle to the homefront where the 3 survivors of the flag raising are brought home to help with fundraising for the last war bond drive of the war. They are treated as instant "heroes" by everyone from The President to people who come to see them at bond drives all over the country. They all impart that they are not "heroes", the "heroes" are the men who died on Iwo Jima. The movie follows the 3 and the effect the battle and the bond tour had on their lives. The reviews have been outstanding all across the board on this film and I can see why.

This is a film you all should see as I am sure most if not all who read this are not familiar with what happenned out there. It was the bloodiest battle in all of Marine Corps history with 6,288 killed in action and over 28,000 wounded on an island less than 5 miles long. The battle raged on non-stop for 34 days with all but a handful of the 22,000 Japanese defenders surviving. The island was assaulted and captured because it lay half-way between the Mariana islands of Saipan and Tinian where the B-29 Heavy Bomber bases were located and Japan proper. It was from Iwo Jima that the Japanese home islands were alerted to the oncoming bombers and fighter aircraft based on Iwo attacked the bombers going to and coming back from Japan causing many losses. Additionally bombers damaged over Japan had no place to land other than the Pacific Ocean should they not be able to get back to their home bases on Saipan and Tinian which was a ten to twelve hour flight. The capture of Iwo Jima is attributed to the saving of over 20,000 American airman's lives from the battle damaged aircraft that landed there after its capture.

As I said this strikes close to home for me as I am a Marine and this battle is ingrained in our history. I have also visited Iwo Jima myself and walked the battlefield both above ground and underground in numerous cave and tunnel complexes that exist to this day on the island. Eastwood and company filmed the battle sequences on Iceland as it is very similar in nature to Iwo Jima both being volcanic islands. The depiction of the black sand beaches and Mt. Suribachi are so real I thought I was back on Iwo myself. I stood on the exact spot our flag was raised and at the end of the movie it shows the spot as it looks today. Equally interesting is the fact that Clint Eastwood's next film to be released this coming year is a continuation showing the battle from the Japanese point of view which I think will be fascinating. These films are a tribute to all who fought and died there during one of the most important times in our history. I went back to Iwo Jima in 1995 as part of the 50th Anniversary ceremonies to commorate the battle with over 1,000 American Veteran's and a small group of Japanese survivors. It was from that experience that I came up with the idea to write an oral history of that battle and had the book published in 1999. I will never forget the things I saw on the island and the stories I heard from those Marines and Navy Corpsman who fought there.