Summary Of Raising The Flag On Iwo Jima By Joe Rosenthal

War is an incredibly ambiguous phenomenon. In today’s world it feels easy to forget anything but life in relative peace. World War II shook the globe. Now, it has has dwindled to mere ripples in between pages of history textbooks and behind the screens of blockbuster films. In Lee Sandlin’s spectacular essay, “Losing the War,” he explains that in the context of World War II, the “amnesia effect” of time has lead to a bizarre situation; “the next generation starts to wonder whether the whole thing [war] ever actually happened,” (361). All that seems to be remembered is a reverie; a spectacle of valiance and bravery. The older generation —the ones who were there—simply became the collateral damage. The war, in all its infamy, can never be

In the book, Flags of our Fathers, written by James Bradley, Bradley writes with pride about his father and the five other men who raised the American Flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. Throughout the book, Bradley utilizes rhetorical questions, stories, interviews, and letters to create a more personal feeling to the book. Also, this builds ethos, making his book credible due to his sources. He creates a dramatic tone by employing short sentence structure and repetition throughout. Furthermore, Bradley also indicates strong feelings towards two major themes of the book, which are pride in his country and a contempt for the media during wartime.

On February 23, 1945, photographer, Joseph Rosenthal, captured one of the world's most famous photographs on top of Mt. Suribachi during the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. This photograph, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, portrays six United States soldiers raising a flag proving that the battle was over and the United States came out victorious. Joe Rosenthal was able to capture sacrifice, victory, freedom, pride, and honor all in a single photograph. This photograph became a symbolic image for the American people and was published in thousands of publications around the world and is still honored and respected today seventy-two years later.

The American Revolution marked the history of many heroic events that immaculately stand as true inspirations for the generations to come in the United States. Even today, the gallantry of a few soldiers that won independence for the country is not only kept in the hearts of the people but run in the American blood to demonstrate acts of valor at times of war and hardships. One such story recorded in the history dates back to 1776, about a sixteen-year old juvenile, Joseph Plumb Martin, joined the Rebel Infantry and recorded his tribulations about forty-seven years in a memoir titled as “A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier”.

One of the most iconic photographs of history, “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima” was taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This photograph is set in the backdrop of World War II: the deadliest military conflict in history. The United States of America declared war on Japan after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Part of the United States’ plan to defeat Japan in the Pacific was a strategy known as leapfrogging, or island hopping, where heavily fortified Japanese positions were bypassed in order to concentrate on more important islands. Iwo Jima was one of the islands targeted. Unfortunately, the solid defense of the island resulted in U.S. troops suffering high casualties. The battle eventually ended in American victory and six U.S. servicemen raised the flag over the battle-scarred island. Rosenthal, an Associated Press cameraman, just happened to be at the right place and time (Patterson). As the flag was being raised, he took a shot which would later be so inspiring and powerful that it spurred millions of Americans

The author, Jeanne Wakatsuki, presents a meaningful story filled with experiences that shaped not only her life, but shaped the lives of thousands of Japanese families living in America. The book’s foreword gives us a starting point in which the reader can start to identify why the book was written. “We a told a New York writer friend about the idea. He said: ‘It’s a dead issue. These days you can hardly get people to read about a live issue. People are issued out.’ …, The issue isn’t what we want to write about. Everybody knows an injustice was done. How many know what actually went on inside?” (Foreword, Farewell to Manzanar). Jeanne believed that she could not write this book solely to retell the tale of Pearl Harbor and its aftermath. Instead, she wrote Farewell to Manzanar to share her personal experience(s) during that particular period of time. Jeanne’s argument throughout the book was that America was destroying the Japanese’s integrity. During Jeanne’s middle school and high school years, she struggles to find acceptance from the parents of her friends and the schools themselves. These individuals are afraid of what they’ll look like being involved

In war, there is no clarity, no sense of definite, everything swirls and mixes together. In Tim O’Brien’s novel named “The Things They Carried”, the author blurs the lines between the concepts like ugliness and beauty to show how the war has the potential to blend even the most contrary concepts into one another. “How to Tell a True War Story” is a chapter where the reader encounters one of the most horrible images and the beautiful descriptions of the nature at the same time. This juxtaposition helps to heighten the blurry lines between concepts during war. War photography has the power to imprint a strong image in the reader’s mind as it captures images from an unimaginable world full of violence, fear and sometimes beauty. Henri Huet, a famous war photographer known for his work in Vietnam War captured a proportionally excellent and appealing photograph during a horrendous operation to illustrate the same blurriness between ugliness and beauty. Both the novel by Tim O’Brien and the photograph by Henri Huet elucidate that besides war’s savage environment, there are also scenes in the nature’s beauty that appeal to eye and look “beautiful”

Throught this powerful essay it is clear that MacArthur is passionate about his Country and the military who serves it. Being very vivid in the descriptions of the world at war, was a way that this essay provokes emotion. Stating “...many a weary march from dripping dusk to to drizzling dawn,slogging ankle-deep through the mire of shell-shocked roads, to form grimly for the attack,blue-lipped, covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind and rain, driving home to their objective…” Those striking words hit the audience like an arrow piercing the hearts of those in attendance. This diction drives home the the point through the use of the audience's emotions keeping their feeling on the surface to be further affected by the speaker's words.

Off of an island of Japan, many landing crafts wash ashore dropping the doors as seventy thousand United States Marines storm the beaches while being shot at by eighteen thousand Japanese soldiers. This is the battle of Iwo Jima which occurred on Feb 19, 1945 and ended on Mar 26, 1945.

“Mary Tsukamoto once said ‘I knew it would leave a scar that would stay with me forever. At that moment my precious freedom was taken from me’” (Martin 54). The Betrayal. The attack on Pearl Harbor. Freedom being ripped away. Loyalty being questioned.

Yusef Komunyakaa, the author of “Facing It,” is a Vietnam Veteran who appears to write as a means to express his grief, pain, and postwar experiences. Being a Veteran myself and having been to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. several times, I empathize with Komunyakaa. The first thing I noticed upon walking down the path to the monument was how quiet and peaceful it was, yet the sorrow and pain was deeply rooted. I located the names of family, friends, and the MIA Marine’s name “CAPT RICHARD R. KANE” on my MIA/POW bracelet. This experience sent chills throughout my body and was emotionally overwhelming. Komunyakaa’s experience in “Facing It,” however, will show how life after war continues to affect a soldier as we examine the theme, imagery and symbols to look deeper into the soul of a man, through his eyes, which bore witness to mind and life altering events.

Flags of Our Fathers, a book written by James Bradley, is the story capturing the lives of the six men who raised the flag on the island of Iwo Jima as they fought before, during, and after World War II. One of these men was James Bradley’s own father. James found old boxes full of articles and imagery taken from the war. Through these documents, he then discovers that his father was one of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima and goes on a search to find out as much as he possibly can about the other five flag raisers. All in all, the six young men included were John Bradley, Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon, and Mike Strank. These men, both daring and courageous, risked their lives on the beaches of Japan for the idea of freedom for all. One of the main themes throughout the book is the idea of media and its influence around the world, but in this case, especially in World War II.

James Bradley was born in Wisconsin. Bradley was one of the six men photographed raising the American flag on the island of Iwo Jima. When his father died, he found a letter wrote to his family and to the next generations about Iowa Jima which he was there. According to his father letter, he explained how it’s very beautiful moment when the six of them raised the flag. James said “Reading my father’s letter made the flag raising photo somehow come alive in my imagination”. James Bradley did a lot of researches and gathered too many information which he qualified to write the book and his book is being New York Times bestsellers.

The image on page 42 was taken by photographer Joe Rosenthal. It featured a scene where U.S. Marines raised the American flag on the Pacific Island of Iwo Jima in 1945 on February 25 (Muller 42). According to the text below the picture, on the day it was taken, 7,000 American lives were lost in trying to capture the island from Japanese troops (Muller 42). The overall purpose of the image is to convey the message that America is strong, united, and resilient.

“V-J Day in Times Square” was a perfect setting for Eisenstaedt to take a significant photo. This picture leaves out the multiple deaths, bombings and tragic events men experienced with triumph and parades of men and women in delight of the war victory. Streets were filled with joyful and excited people, similar to the two subjects in the photo. New York City was home to many families of surviving military men and women as seen in the background of the photo. New York City was a great distraction for the soldiers because of the business of the city and it felt like home to the soldiers because of all the different types of activities and things to go see that the soldiers could participate in. Eisenstaedt’s photograph was able to capture that joy for soldiers at V-J