Flags Of Our Fathers essays

Flags Of Our Fathers essays This book was about the histories and achievements of the six men who raised the American Flag over Iwo Jima in WWII. Their names were John Bradley, Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon and Mike Strank. It is written by the son of John Bradley, the only flag raiser to live on a normal life after the war. There are three historical significances in this book and they are, for one, that there were 80,000 Americans and 20,000 Japanese on Iwo Jima. Secondly was the tactics of the Japanese in WWII. And thirdly, of how the attack on Pearl Harbor had mobilized America. The fact that there were 80 thousand Americans and 20 thousand Japanese in the battle of Iwo Jima gives the impression that it was an easy battle, with such overwhelming odds. But the Japanese were heavily entrenched and the Navy refused to help the marines attacking. 2 out of every 3 marines died in the conflict. An example of the carnage in the book was when a soldier found his friend in the battle and greeted him, only to later notice that his friend was dead, blown in half. When fighting the Germans, such people as medics or "corpsmen" were overlooked because they held status as non-combatants. The medics would wear red crosses on their helmets in order for the Germans to know who not to shoot...but while fighting Japanese they tried to keep as low profile as possible. This is because the Japanese would aim for the medics, because they thought that the more medics dead, the more soldiers would lie bleeding to death in the sand. And with prisoners of war, the Japanese were ruthless in their torture. The book gave a statistic of POW death rates, and Germany had one of 1.1%...Japans was 37%. Much like the attack on the world trade centers today, a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor mobilized the American Population. Enlistment was high, and even fifteen year olds would fake their ages in order to join the Marines. People would drive their cars...