Chapter Eighteen: Movies and Monuments and Chapter Nineteen: Casualties of Wa Summary and Analysis

Several years after the flag-raising event, the press continued to follow the lives of the boys. Rene was still at the mill. Ira was deteriorating—drinking and getting arrested. Jack was working at a funeral home. Harlon and Franklin received military funerals in their hometowns. Mike was buried at Arlington. The boys were asked to participate in a John Wayne movie, "The Sands of Iwo Jima." They raised a flag at the end of the movie but the movie had very little to do with the actual battle that took place. The statue of the flag raising by sculptor de Weldon was the unveiled at Arlington National Cemetery in late 1954. The huge statue impressed everyone. After the ceremony, the three...