First published 2000
James Bradley opens boxes his father John Bradley left behind after his death at seventy. Inside he finds letters and photographs his father never shared, documents that reveal the true story of the most famous moment in American military history. In February 1945, American Marines stormed the beaches of Iwo Jima through machine gun and mortar fire. They fought across an island riddled with Japanese tunnels and 22,000 defenders who would fight to the last man. Six Marines climbed to the highest peak and raised a flag. The photograph became an immortal symbol of American courage. Three of the six men died in battle. The survivors were flown home as heroes, but the adulation shattered two of them. Only John Bradley survived intact, never displaying the famous photograph in his home. He told his son simply that the real heroes were the guys who never came back. Bradley traces the paths of all six flagraisers to reveal the difference between truth and myth, exploring what happened before the victory and what came after.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, biography-memoir, military-history, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Iwo Jima
Period: 1945
376 pages · Hardcover · Bantam