James Bradley's father was one of the six Marines who raised the flag at Iwo Jima, and who was photographed by Joe Rosenthal. This picture is one of the most well- known and reproduced of all time. Bradley tells of how he came to write a book about the men who raised the flag, the three who did not return home from the war and the three who did. In the course of this Bradley speaks about the battle for Iwo Jima. He explains that there were twenty- two thousand Japanese in a vast underground city. And that the attack of eighty- thousand Marines against these entrenched positions led to massive American loss of life. In Bradley's father's unit eighty - percent did not survive.

Bradley the son speaks in a modest way. He shows his great admiration for his father. He points out how young the Marines were who fought there, many in their teens. He says that they were people whose character was to do good , and so were modest about taking any credit for themselves. Bradley also connects his father's silence about the events to his having seen so many of his friends maimed and killed. Bradley's father was a medic who Bradley estimates must have held in his arms at their last breath at least two hundred Marines.

The son Bradley seems a modest good person also. And the whole interview has about it a respect , a dignity even a sanctity.