After the death of his father, John, James Bradley was inspired to research the lives of the six men (including his father) in the famous photograph of the raising of the American flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. His idea was turned down by twenty-seven publishers over the course of twenty-five months, and was finally published in 2000 by Bantam Books. It would later be on the New York Times Bestseller List for forty-six weeks.
Bradley conducted extensive research and interviews with family members, friends, fellow Marines, and others to tell the stories of the six men before, during, and after the flagraising. His father, a navy corpsman, PFC Ira Hayes and PFC Rene Gagnon...
