Flags of Our Fathers

By James Bradley (with Ron Powers). Pimlico, £10 paperback

On February 19th, 1945, the best part of two divisions of the US Marine Corps landed on a two-mile stretch of beach on the island of Iwo Jima in the Pacific Ocean, thereby claiming their place in US folklore. Despite 72 consecutive days of bombing by the US Army Air Force - the longest sustained bombardment of the Pacific war - the island's 22,000 Japanese defenders were relatively unscathed. As the American Marines landed on the beach the Japanese watched and waited. An hour after the first landings, when the beaches were choc-a-bloc with men and materiel, they unleashed a hurricane of fire which all but swept the Americans back into the sea. Chaos and slaughter reigned.

Almost unbelievably, the Americans managed to hang on, by dint of both the unquestioning courage and determination of the Marines and their overwhelming superiority in resources. The strategic importance of Iwo Jima was its airstrip, but the key to the island's capture was Mount Suribachi, rising to 550 feet and completely dominating the landing beaches. It was riddled with tunnels and concrete emplacements which the Marines had to deal with one by one. The Japanese defended to the death. After four days of hellish fighting the US flag was placed on top, recorded by a photograph as one of the defining moments in US history.

The author's father was one of the six men who appeared in the photograph helping to raise the flag. Of the six, three died in subsequent battles on Iwo Jima; the island was not subdued for another 32 days. Of the three survivors, two died within ten years, one of a heart attack and one in an alcohol-fuelled incident never fully explained. Only Bradley's father lived into old age, but he never spoke of his role as flag-raiser. Indeed, his father had won the Navy Cross for valour on the island but his family never knew until after his death.

Bradley's book revisits the battle through the personal histories of the six men who raised "Old Glory" on that inhospitable hill. From widely different backgrounds, they appear in that world famous image by chance, and yet none of their lives were ever the same again. As many will know, the photograph actually records the second raising of the flag. An earlier, smaller flag was planted originally, replaced by the larger one later and recorded for history by Joe Blumenthal. He didn't even have time to focus his camera, nor did he have time to compose his frame. Never mind, the image is an icon for the 20th century.

The book is a good, if harrowing, read. In many ways there are parallels between Britain's experience on the Somme and America's on Iwo Jima 33 years later. Both had the same immense bombardments, untouched and unseen enemies, high casualty rates, and the seeming inability to hit back. Only the scale of the disaster on the Somme separates the two, plus the fact that on Iwo Jima the attacker's casualties were greater than the defender's. Above all else, however, Bradley's book reminds us again of the unspeakable horrors of war and of the resilience of the human spirit in extreme adversity. Let's just hope that we have learned enough now not to have to do this sort of thing ever again.

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