Book Portfolio #2

I've read Flags of our Fathers By James Bradley, which is a book that tells the story of the Iwo Jima flag raisers during WWII. This book tells how fast life changed for six men because they put up a flag. Anything you do can change your life for better or for worse, depending upon how you look at it. The battle of Iwo Jima is one of the most infamous battles in histoy, and the image of the flag raising has been immortalized by the memorial that was made of the scene. When you search Iwo Jima on Google images the first few are of the flag raising with about 5 more on the same page.

Everything you do big, small, or medium will change your life at least a little. For the three flag raisers and one that was thought to have helped, life changed. They were instant celebrities whether they wanted to be or not. They went on a bond tour to many citys and did reenactments of the flag raising for big crowds. The lives of the parents of those that died changed to they didn't have their sons anymore. The life of Joe Rosenthal the photographer also changed he also became famous. The theme states that life changes no matter what and it is shown many times throughout the book.

Iwo Jima was one of the fiercest battles that was fought during WWII, fought by 110,000 Americans and 22,000 Japanese. Which seem like bad odds for the Japanese, but the island was heavily fortified, with vast bunkers, hidden artillery, and 11 miles of underground tunnels. This did not stop the Americans though after 35 days of battle the island was ours with 6,821 dead and 19,189 wounded Americans. The Japanese suffered many loses because they were ordered not to surrender with 21,703 dead and 1,083 captured by the end of the battle.