Washington Post
February 21, 2000
Renewing The Memory Of Iwo Jima
On 55th Anniversary, Ceremony Honors Marines' Sacrifice
By Steve Vogel, Washington Post Staff Writer
James Bradley walked to the podium set up before the Iwo Jima
memorial yesterday and paused to look at the sculpture, turning
away
momentarily from the audience that had gathered to commemorate
the
55th anniversary of the U.S. landing on the Japanese island.
Bradley's gaze fell on the second figure from the right, one of
six
men depicted in the sculpture struggling to raise the American
flag,
rippling in the wind on the brisk, sunny day.
"There's my dad, in a big bronze statue," Bradley, 46, finally
said,
turning to face the gathering of hundreds of veterans, family
members
and Marines. "That's about all we knew about him on Iwo Jima,
growing
up. Any time we asked him about it, he would always change the
subject."
John Bradley, a Navy corpsman, died in 1994 at age 70, the last
survivor among the six men captured in a World War II photograph
shot
by Joe Rosenthal showing the American flag being raised atop
Mount
Suribachi on the fourth day of the battle. The photograph was
the
model for a memorial that has come to symbolize victory and
sacrifice.
It was not until after his death, rummaging through boxes kept
in a
closet, that James Bradley learned more about the battle's
lasting
effect on his father. In the years since, Bradley has conducted
extensive research among Iwo Jima veterans preparing a book,
"Flags
of our Fathers," to be published this spring.
"I would like to salute you guys, you ordinary guys, you heroes
of
Iwo Jima," Bradley said.
His remarks drew many tears from onlookers and captured the
significance of a battle that stands at the forefront of Marine
Corps
history. More Marines died at Iwo Jima than in any other battle
in
the Corps' history. In all, 6,800 Americans and 22,000 Japanese
died
in the 36-day battle fought over a volcanic rock in the ocean, a
critical stepping stone for U.S. bombers attacking the Japanese
mainland.
The commemoration, a three-day event involving 400 veterans that
culminated with yesterday's wreath-laying service, may be the
last
major gathering of Iwo Jima veterans, according to Marine Corps
officials and organizers.
"This might never happen this way again," said Cy O'Brien, 81, a
Marine combat correspondent from Silver Spring who covered the
fighting on Iwo Jima and helped organize the commemoration.
"These
are all old guys. Look at these guys. Just think: These are the
guys
Japan feared more than anything else."
The elderly men sitting in metal folding chairs facing the
memorial
during yesterday's ceremony had been little more than boys when
they
landed. Many of them were only 18 years old.
One of the men at yesterday's commemoration, Tom Fields, of
Hyattsville, had been an All-American middle-distance runner at
the
University of Maryland who enlisted in 1942.
Fields, 81, was a company commander with the 5th Marine Division
when
it landed on a volcanic ash beach on Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945.
"Christ, I was 26, I was an old man," Fields said.
"We hit the beach with 224 of us," Fields said. "Thirty-six days
later, 24 of us were left. My heroes are the 18-year-old Marines
who
day after day got out of their holes and went forward."
Routing the Japanese defenders from their intricate maze of
caves and
bunkers was bloody and desperate. "So many times I've gone over
it,
thinking there had to have been an easier way to do it without
spilling so much blood on that damn rock, but there was no other
way," Fields said.
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Washington Post
February 21, 2000
<bold><bigger>Renewing The Memory Of Iwo Jima
</bigger></bold>On 55th Anniversary, Ceremony Honors Marines'
Sacrifice
By Steve Vogel, Washington Post Staff Writer
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