I just picked up, "Flags of Our Fathers" by James Bradey.

He also wrote "Flyboys".

The book is about is the store behind the photo of the six men who raised the flag atop the mountain on Iwo Jima.

Stephen Ambrose wrote that "Flags of our Fathers" is "The best battle book I have ever read. There 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."

Here is a quote from the foreward:

"Of the six men who raised the flag, three were killed in action in the continuing battle.

Of the three survivors, two were overtaken and eventually destroyed - dead of drink and heartbreak. Only one of them managed to live in peace into an advanced age. He achieved this peace by willing the past into a cave of silence."

The author's father was one of the six men who raised the flag, but his father never spoke about it, actually refused to talk about it. He might have taken it to his grave had James Bradley not of stumbled onto a cardboard box a few days after his death.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".