I recently read a great and rather unique book I found on amazon written by one of the men in the platoon that raised the original flag on Mt. Suribachi. It was apparently used by Clint Eastwood in the movie Flags of Our Fathers. It is easy to read but hard to put down. I tracked down the author who is still alive and he was quite gracious in talking about his experience on Iwo Jima. I had forwarded a book to him to sign and just got it back, autographed with a nice message. A real class act.

This is a excellent, well-known, heavily discussed book and movie. Thanks for mentioning it. Bradley also wrote a good book about the air raids on Chichi-Jima, called Flyboys. The recent movie of the same name is not connected.

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Best Regards,
JW

I think you may have my book comments confused with the Bradley book. The Bloody Battle for Suribachi is written by Richard Wheeler, a World War II vet. According to the cover of Wheeler's book, James Bradley called it the "best" book on the battle. Bradley's book is about the men who raised the second flag on Iwo Jima, rather than the first flag-which is the Wheeler story-and Bradley's book is the one that has gotten alot of attention.
I mentioned the book by Mr. Wheeler for several reasons: one, that it is a great read; two, that the author writes about his first-hand experience and that of his comrades;and three, the author is still around to talk about his experience which he graciously does.

Yes, I didn't realize the book you were speaking of was the thread title. I was in hurry reading the post and missed some important aspects of your post, such as "written by one of the men in the platoon" and "raised the original flag on Mt. Suribachi"

Is this book you were referring to?
Amazon.com: The Bloody Battle for Suribachi (Bluejacket Books): Books: Richard Wheeler

Apologies all around.

__________________
Best Regards,
JW

That is the book except the one I bought was a newly released updated version. Per amazon, it was published by Skyhorse in October, 2007. I had heard about it from a friend who attended an Iwo Jima veterans event where a number of the men mentioned in the book were also in attendance. They, apparently, gave high marks to the updated version.

I'll have to add this to my list of "must reads" -- I didn't realize that there was a published/purchasable (is that a real word? LOL) account of the real event -- i.e., not the later, staged flag-raising.

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It's not the number of breaths you take in life that matters but the moments that take your breath away.
Babs

Actually, the second flag-raising was not staged - a larger flag was needed that would be more easily seen by the troops and from the ships offshore, so the second flag was taken to the top of Suribachi and raised. Just because an AP still photographer (Rosenthal) and USMC movie cameraman (Genaust) went along and were on hand to record the event doesn't make it staged.

Read this article. It is an excellent account of what happened and why the "staged" rumor persists.

Fifty Years Later, Iwo Jima Photographer Fights His Own Battle

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Best Regards,
JW

As I mentioned originally, I was quite happy to find that the author of this book is around, very affable and willing to talk quite extensively about his platoon which raised the first flag. He was in the Company of the men who raised both flags. John Bradley, the Navy corpsman in the second flag raising photo, was actually assigned to the Third Platoon that raised the first flag. According to Mr. Wheeler, John Bradley was involved with the first raising also, although evidence of such has only been established relatively recently. Mr. Wheeler makes it quite clear that the second raising was not staged. Two events triggered the raising- to get up a larger flag and so that Colonel Johnson could save it for Marine Corps history. I have asked Mr. Wheeler to join this site and am waiting for his reply.

Thanks for the correction -- and the link -- you see why I should read the book! LOL!

__________________
It's not the number of breaths you take in life that matters but the moments that take your breath away.
Babs