By James Bradley
Texan who joined Marines with his high school football buddies. Seventh Day Adventist religious beliefs prohibited fighting but he went anyway His mother, Belle, recognized her son s photo in the paper despite misidentification. Mike Strank s second in command; he took over leadership of the unit after Mike was killed. He died hours later.
Navy medic Won Navy Cross for valor Wounded in both legs Went home to be a mortician His son wrote the book
Raised on tobacco farm in Kentucky Father died when he was nine; he was an only child Died days before evacuation Mother screamed so loud when she got the news of her son s death, neighbors heard it clear across the fields
Pima Indian from Arizona Earned distinction as paratrooper Quiet disposition, greatly respected Sergeant Mike Strank Did not want any part of photo tour Became a heavy drinker, froze to death. Told Harlon Block s family of his raising the flag.
Grew up only son of a widow in Manchester, New Hampshire He carried the flag up Mt. Suribachi He saw very little combat, he was a runner The youngest survivor, he enjoyed the fame from the photograph more than anyone else.
A Marine s Marine Born in Czechoslovakia, grew up in mining town in Pennsylvania At 27, he was the oldest of the flag raisers, best known for his leadership. Died by friendly fire. Buried at Arlington National Cemetary
Date: 19, 1945 February Place: Iwo Jima Mission: Deprive Japanese of Early Warning System Obtain Landing Strip for Damaged Bombers SAVE AMERICAN LIVES
General Tadamichi Kuribayashi s Plan: Fight to last man. No one leaves island alive. Heavily fortify island with extensive caves and bunkers Lieutenant General Holland Smith s Plan: Bombard island for 84 days before invading Amphibious landing of 20,000 troops Take Mount Suribachi first and progress north until the island was secured.
It took four days to secure Mount Suribachi It took another 31 days to secure the entire island This was the only battle in WWII in which American casualties outnumbered Japanese: US=27,000, Japan=20,000
Photographer for the Leatherneck magazine. Photographed the first flag raising. First flag was smaller than second one, and had historical significance due to Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal s comment, the raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years. It was summoned down as a souvenier.
Here s one for all time John Bodkin AP Photo Editor On the way up for the second flag raising, Rosenthal met Lowery on his way down. Lowery advised the photographers to keep going up because the summit was an excellent place to take pictures. As the six Marines raised the flag, Rosenthal swing his camera up and snapped the photograph without using the view finder. He did not know what he got.
Following the second flag raising, Rosenthal had the Marines of Easy Company pose for a group shot, the gung-ho picture. A few days after the famous picture was taken, Rosenthal was asked if he posed the picture. Mistaking the picture for the gung-ho shot, he said yes, and was forever plagued with fabricating history. Despite the controversy, the picture won a Pulitzer Prize.
The Iwo Jima Photograph becomes the symbol for the 7 th war bond drive Rene Gagnon is asked to identify the Marines in the photo Ira Hayes threatens to kill Gagnon if he identifies him, but Gagnon buckles to Presidential pressure and reveals Hayes anyway. Gagnon misidentifies Harlon Block as Sergeant Henry O. Hank Hansen, who participated in the first flag raising. Hansen died on Iwo Jima. The bond tour raised $26.3 billion, twice the tour s goal.
Both flags housed in the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia The Medal of Honor was awarded to 27 servicemen as a result of this struggle, fourteen posthumously. This accounts for over a third of the Medals of Honor awarded during the entire Pacific War.
Erection of the memorial, which was designed by Horace W. Peaslee, was begun in September 1954. It was officially dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on November 10, 1954, the 179th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps.
What to look for
Author s Purpose Nostalgia Rhetorical Questions
James Bradley knows little about his father s experience Happiest moment of his life The Bradley family travels to Iwo Jima to visit the site after his research Bradley speaks about each raiser
Bradley uses questions to pose questions to the readers Creates feelings of timelessness by tying together images of present and past
Chapter 2
Mothers Religion Personification Characterization
Bradley Sousley Block Hayes Gagnon Strank
Religion plays an important role in each of their life s Bradley and Strank are devout Catholics Block is a Seventh-Day Adventist Hayes s mother was an important figure in the church
Mother s influences can be seen as well Bradley: his mother is heavily involved in his Catholic learning after his sister s death Strank s faith is also tied to his mother Sousley is extremely close to his mother after the deaths of his brother and father Block s mother knows he is a flag raiser and influences his beliefs Hayes mother taught him the bible and made sure he had an education Gagnon his close to his mother following the divorce of his parents
Connected to America as a whole All of them together illuminated a great deal that was wonderful and innocent in an America that was soon to leave its own childhood forever The hollows swallow up people, even history
Uses interviews to create their characters and describe them
Chapter 3
Nazi Germany across the Atlantic; Imperial Japan across the Pacific Japan had been a important military power for decades Japan attempted to surround China to force them to submit American military needed to make a stand Marines stand up to Japan at Guadalcanal Public view them as heroes and media played this up
ISSEN GOREN 1 yen 5 rin: cost of mailing a draft notice postcard A solider is expendable Fight for emperor without and identity Bushido Way of the Warrior Surrender is a personal shame ESPRIT DE CORPS A feeling of pride, fellowship, and common loyalty shared by members of a particular group Individuality was erased Be a team You do not win alone but as a unit Both groups were well trained, disciplined and knew the meaning of courage and sacrifice
The massive media coverage prevents Americans from ignoring Japan We learn about it from a radio announcement Americans are poring over newspapers to learn more about Japan
Both break down the individual Japan: Brainwashes their people into fighting for a faceless Emperor Death in battle was portrayed as an honor to the family and a heroic act of the indivdiual America: Break down the individual and build up as team Fought for love for each other, country, and proud spirit
Chapter 4
Mike Strank enlists before America enters the war Ira Surprises his tribe enlisting Harlon enlists despite his religion and mother s protest Jack enlists in the navy Rene joins at 17
A wet hell Mike, Ira, and Harlon all fight the unseen enemy At this time Franklin was training Bradley was transferred to Field Medical School
Ira, Mike, and Harlon return from battle emotionally scarred Ira is seen as more mature while still being quiet and thoughtful Mike informs his family he will not be returning from his next battle Harlon informs his girlfriend he will not be coming back again either Franklin says he will return a hero
Island of Tarawa viewed as a slaughter by the media Concrete dug in guard posts Navy bombs could not destroy pillbox defenses Howlin Mad Smith views it as a success however Small group of Marines defeat 5000 Japanese soldiers
Why a character does what they do. Why do they enlist? Strank: defend his home country Hayes: defend his parents Block: peer pressure from friends Bradley: avoid the fighting (doesn t want his mother to lose another child) Gagnon: wants to look good Franklin: be a hero
Media portrays war as: fighting for your country and doing your duty Ira has to kill someone close up Harlon finds himself in hand-to-hand combat Mike has to watch countless men die Media s interpretation of the battle at Tarawa Failure to the military, not to Howlin Mad
Each of the three boys return changed Death is never far from their thoughts Each felt their own mortality stronger than before Ira is sullen and his manner had changed (his mother notices this) The war creates a conflict for each of them
Rhetorical Triangle
Logos: Message Rational or Logical Approach Information used to get message across Ethos: Author Ethical Appeal Do they use credible sources Pathos: Audience Emotional Appeal Does it make the audience feel something?
Ethos: The Author Who is the author? Are they credible? What s the ad trying to accomplish? Logos: The Message What are the facts/statistics used? Pathos: The Receiver Who is the target audience? Is it having a desired effect?
Chapter 5
This is where they met for the first time All are assigned to Easy Company Given the name Spearhead Reference to play in the invasion of Japense islands
Marines learn to be rifleman Mike takes command of Harlon, Ira, and Franklin Rene can never fit in so he becomes a runner Jack meets Iggy and creates a friendship with him
Harlon informs both his sister and brother he will not be returning The men head to Camp Tarawa to begin preparation for attacking Island X Only high staff know that Island X= Iwo Jima
Chapter 6
Marines find out that Island X is Iwo Jima CHARRED PORK CHOP Iwo Jima is very important to Japanese Japanese military stationed there are shooting down American planes heading to mainland Japan to bomb it It s thought of as main land Japan and is part of Shinto Mythology No foreign invader has set foot on it in 4000 years
Bombs Iwo Jima for 72 consecutive days Meant to soften up the island defensives Had no clue that black dots on map were entrances for an underground city
Turns Iwo Jima into the most heavily fortified island of WW2 Knows exactly where they will land- a two mile strip Allow them to land on beach and open fire when they are stuck The Japanese must kill 10 Americans before they die 22,000 soldiers have constructed tunnels and rooms (it was estimated that only 13,000 soldiers were on the island) Meeting rooms, housing, communication centers, hospitals
JAPANESE SOLIDER WESTERN SOLDIER If surrounded: fight on If injured and disabled: blow themselves up along with enemy soldiers If surrounded: Surrender If injured and disabled: allow themselves to be captured
Navy does not provide adequate bombing Ask for 10 days only get 3 Due to limitations on the availability of ships, difficulties of ammunition replacement, and the loss of surprise They wanted to grab headlines : Media Influence Only bombarded for 1 day instead and were given few ships to attack If the Marines had received better cooperation from the Navy our casualties would have been lower
Bradley attends daily mass during his time at Camp Pendleton Block struggles between his 7 th Day Adventist beliefs and violent duties of Marines Sousley writes to his mother You can grow a crop of tobacco every summer, but I sure as hell can t grow another mother like you Block takes outs 10,000 life insurance to only his mother All Japanese, British, and Americans connect with their dying word Mother
Chapter 7
Invasion Day: February 19, 1945 Climb on soft volcanic ash not hard sand: makes each step a lingering effort Vehicles bogged down in soft sand Prevents soldiers from having a shield Japanese soldiers wait for Americans to gather on beach Became targets in a shooting gallery
Complete Mayhem American tanks crushed wounded soldiers who could not get out of the way Others were shoved to their death by those behind them You had to just push the guy in front of you. It was like pushing him to his death Some drop into a deep, terror-induced sleep during the carnage It became an outright slaughter
The sand (volcanic ash) was almost impossible to move quickly on It was like climbing on talcum powder like a bin of wheat. Like deep snow Does provide some benefits though The ash absorbed many of the mortar rounds and sharpnel Almost impossibleto not get hit Not getting hit was like running through rain and not getting wet
A calming presence Mike Strank never loses his composure amongst the chaos Shepherds his boys across the sand
Japanese had been known to go after corpsmen Doc saves at least three lives the first day while attending to a wound he suffered himself Thurman Fogarty Marine who had his arm blasted off John Fredatovich
566 Men Killed 1755 wounded Japanese were so well hidden that the Marines build a hospital right over them
Religion plays a huge factor during the battle as a priest that accompanies the soldiers as they laid dying All the training in the world could not have prepared the boys for the battle Boys being trampled Boys being run over by their own tanks Boys being traumatized in the middle of battle Japanese soldiers hiding and popping out of secret areas
Repetition: Repeating the same phrase to create emphasis and importance Somehow the Marines kept advancing. Somehow discipline held. Somehow valor overcame terror and scared young men under sheet of deadly fire kept on during the basic, gritty tasks that they d practice over and over in training.
Chapter 8 and 9
Marines spend the night waiting for a banzai charge Banzai Charge: When soldiers rush an enemy to attack them in an element of surprise and confusion This type of attack leaves the banzai attackers vulnerable to attacks and decimates their ranks Battle waged on far longer than others In Normandy the beach was quiet in 24 hours, Iwo Jima beach absorbed casualties for days
Held in regimental reserve Would be the back up to rush into the front lines if needed
Jack Lucas: Falls on two grenades in order to save his buddies Keith Wells: Stirs troops to attack by rushing toward the mountain alone Fights on despite having shrapnel in his leg Ed Pennel: Dashed from hole to hole killing Japanese soldiers before being injured by a shell Doc Bradley Gives medical attention to a Marine who is shot and losing blood at a life-threatening rate Stays with the Marine despite bullets flying all around and drags him to safety Mike Strank: Leads a banzai attack on pill boxes surprising Japanese soldiers. Boots Thomas: Identifies the weak spot in the mountains defenses and leads the breakthrough In one single day (Day 3) the men of Easy Company receive: 1 Medal of Honor; four Navy Crosses; two Silver Stars; and numerous Purple Hearts
Psychologically it was a battle Almost as if they were shooting AND getting shot at by phantoms (CH. 8) Do what you have to do Despite having no tanks to back them up, the Marines had to charge anyway (CH. 9) USS Bismarck Sea is destroyed by a Kamikaze attack Cecil Gentry: You could see the fear of death on his (Japanese pilot) face 644 killed, 4168 wounded, 560 unaccounted for
Chapter 10
to take over the mountain Demolition specialists get payback on pillboxes were beginning to find the Japanese s tunnels (the volcano) was now surrounded except for a 400 yard gap
Lieutenant leads about 150 from island to rendezvous with the rest of the Japanese military Only about 25 of them make it After they make it to the rest of the Japanese the lieutenant is asked to bow his head to chop off: dishonor for abandoning post