Now abridged for young people, Flags of Our Fathers is the unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history: the raising of the U. S. flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America. In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima–and into history. The son of one of the flag raisers has written a powerful account of six very different men who came together in the heroic battle for the Pacific’s most crucial island. In the winter of 1945, on the tiny island of Iwo Jima, a ferocious, epic battle was fought, resulting in the loss of more than 48,000 lives and producing what was to become one of the most recognizable symbols of World War II: a photograph of six soldiers raising an American flag on the peak of Mount Suribachi. One of the six, Navy corpsman John Bradley, came away from this historical moment with a deep and mysterious silence about his role in the flag raising. Even his wife heard him speak of it only once in their 47-year marriage. After Bradley's death, his son James began to piece together the facts of his father's heroism, as well as that of the other five men, all of whom became reluctant heroes because of their presence during that fateful instant when the shutter clicked and created a wartime icon. Based on James Bradley's Flags of Our Fathers for adults, this abridged version for younger readers retains the somewhat terse drama, intense heartbreak, and bittersweet triumph of the original narrative. Through his research on the event and the soldiers (three of the men were killed in combat within days of the flag raising), Bradley explores the dubious nature of heroism and the devastating effects of war. (Ages 14 and older) --Emilie Coulter Gr 7-10-The American flag being hoisted over Iwo Jima during World War II is a ubiquitous image, and students are repeatedly told that it represents the struggle of war and the triumph of freedom. Reading this magnificent book will make those concepts tangible. A son of one of the "flag raisers," Bradley tells the story of six young men, from different backgrounds and varying experiences, who came together at one moment during "America's most heroic battle" to be spontaneously immortalized by an Associated Press photographer. Solidly adapted from the adult bestseller (Bantam, 2000), this work builds from introductions to the men and the war to a narration of the bloody conquering of the important island, concluding with the celebrity-encouraged by FDR-that followed the picture's worldwide publication. The dramatic fighting, heroic behavior, and patriotic celebrations in which these half-dozen humble individuals played a role are all captured. The author's authoritative sources include the elder Bradley's papers and rare familial recounts of the experience, hundreds of interviews, and a visit to the site of the action. And while justly proud of his father and his country, Bradley strives for fairness and historical accuracy, pointing out that this was the second flag raised that day, the first having been taken down as a souvenir for an officer. History is thus made personally authentic in these pages. A book that deserves a place on school reading lists and in every library.-Andrew Medlar, Chicago Public Library, IL Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. "The best battle book I ever read. These stories, from the time the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima enlisted, their training, and the landing and subsequent struggle, fill me with awe."—Stephen Ambrose Now abridged for young people, Flags of Our Fathers is the unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history: the raising of the U. S. flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America. In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima–and into history. The son of one of the flag raisers has written a powerful account of six very different men who came together in the heroic battle for the Pacific's most crucial island. James Bradley is the son of John "Doc" Bradley, one of the six flagraisers. A speaker and a writer, he lives in Rye, New York. Ron Powers is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. He is the author of White Town Drowsing and Dangerous Water: A Biography of the Boy Who Became Mark Twain. He lives in Vermont. Sacred Ground The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know —Harry Truman In the spring of 1998 six boys called to me from half a century ago on a distant mountain, and I went there. For a few days I set aside my comfortable life—my business concerns, my life in Rye, New York—and made a pilgrimage to the other side of the world, to a tiny Japanese island in the Pacific Ocean called Iwo Jima. There, waiting for me, was the mountain the boys