In a world of uncertainty we need to be able to see clearly what we are fighting for and against. We need to know that there are still real heroes for us to believe in. After September 11th, terrorism lives as a constant threat now in the American heart. Two movies, based on American Heroes are my pick for this weeks true stories.
"World Trade Center" is an epic movie about two Port Authority policemen who were trapped in the rubble of the Twin Towers when they fell and their families. America watched in stunned silence as CNN replayed the events of September 11th, 2001 over and over again. I was in a rehab facility after surviving a head on collision three hours away from my family, as I watched the news that morning. Fear gripped my heart as I wondered where the next target would be. My complete inability to care and protect my family was the core of my fear.
Americans will not forget where they were or what they were doing when the news broadcast the news of the Pentagon and the towers. Many of us had family and friends who worked in th etowers or in the military. Instantly we knew in our hearts that a great war had begun and that lives would be lost.
As the days after the "sucker punch" revealed the extent of the damage, it also revealed the size of the American heart. The compassion, the courage and the strength of individuals to become united in adversity.
One of the most well known military memorials, is that of Iwo Jima. Recently I received an e-mail about the story behind the men depicted in the memorial and would like to share it, in part, here.
'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 class at 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 is 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.'
Johnny Cash recorded a song called The Ballad of Ira Hayes. The point of the song was that a great American hero was forgotten. America had failed one of their own. Too often we forget about our heroes still waging the war of freedom. They do not forget why they are out there. Every minute of every day they remember that there is a country that they love and people that the cherish.
"Flags of Our Fathers" directed by Clint Eastwood, is rated "R". This is one of the few we have in our collection with such a rating. It is in our home for the purpose of teaching our children that many have sacrificed for our nation and many more are sacrificing today, and many more will yet sacrifice their lives for for Family, nation and God. For we do not fight against a common foe, but against the tyranny of Satan who would bind our souls in hell. We must remember as a people that we have much to lose.
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