Article describes talk given to a group of Wisconsin schoolchildren at the Iwo Jima memorial.
The above-quoted article was written in October 2000 by Wisconsin residentMichael T. Powers (whose name has been omitted from most of the Internet-circulated versions), transcribed from a videotape he made of a talk given by author James Bradley at the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Bradley, whose father, John, was one of the six men pictured in the famous photograph of the flag-raising on Mt. Suribachi in February 1945 (and is thus depicted in the monument's sculpture), had earlier that year published Flags of Our Fathers, an account of the life stories of those six men.This article has been published in a number of books, including Powers' own Heart Touchers, as well as the compilations Chicken Soup for the Grandparent's Soul, God Allows U-Turns: American Moments, and Stories from a Soldier's Heart.This piece was circulating on the Internet by the end of 2000, and by the end of 2002 the following paragraphs had been tacked on to it, although they were neither part of James Bradley's talk nor Michael Powers' account of it:We need to remember that God created this vast and glorious world for us to live in, freely, but also at great sacrifice. Let us never forget from the revolutionary War to the Gulf War and all the wars in-between that sacrifice was made for our freedom. Remember to pray praises for this great country of ours and also pray for those still in murderous unrest around the world. STOP and thank God for being alive at someone else's sacrifice. God Bless.In January 2007, someone thought to add this postscript to the Internet-circulated piece:PS . One thing I learned while on tour with my 8th grade students in DC that is not mentioned here is that if you look at the statue very closely and count the number of 'hands' raising the flag, there are 13. When the man who made the statue was asked why there were 13, he simply said the 13th hand was the hand of God.The sculpture does not include a thirteenth hand - there are only twelve. The rumor about the 13th hand has been around for dog's years, though, spread both on the Internet and by amateur tour guides.Said the sculptor Felix de Weldon of the rumor: 'Thirteen hands. Who needed 13 hands? Twelve were enough.'
nan