Flags of Our Fathers
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Flags of Our Fathers (2000) is the New York Times-bestselling book by James Bradley with Ron Powers about the five United States Marines and one United States Navy Corpsman (Medic) who would eventually be made famous by Joe Rosenthal's lauded photograph of the flag raising at Iwo Jima, one of the costliest and horrifying battles of World War II's Pacific Theater. One of the flag raisers was John Bradley, a Navy corpsman, and the author's father. Two other flag raisers were Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes as well as Mike Strank, Harlon Block and Franklin Sousley who died during the battle. Strank refused several promotions during the battle in order to "Bring his boys back to their mothers." Block was an officer who reported to Strank, and the rest were privates in the marines as paratroopers, riflemen or others, except for John Bradley, a Navy Corpsman who administered first aid to Easy Company (The company of all of the flags raisers who assaulted Iwo Jima were in).
The book, published in May 2000 by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, spent 46 weeks on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list, spending six weeks at number one. Shortly after the book's publication, Steven Spielberg optioned the film rights for DreamWorks Pictures.
The book follows the lives of the six flag-raisers through their early lives of innocence, military training, fierce combat and afterward, when they were exploited by being sent on tours to raise money for war bonds.
The film adaptation Flags of Our Fathers, which opened in the U.S. on October 20, 2006, was directed by Clint Eastwood and produced by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay written by William Broyles, Jr. and Paul Haggis.
[edit] References
- Bradley, James & Powers, Ron Flags of Our Fathers. Bantam, 2000.
- Hardcover, Bantam, 2000, ISBN 0-553-11133-7
- Paperback, Bantam, 2001, ISBN 0-553-38029-X
- Mass market paperback, Bantam, 2006, ISBN 0-553-58908-3
- Japanese translation, Bungeishunju, 2002, ISBN 4-16-765117-3
