The Flags of Iwo Jima

I just saw Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers this evening. This is not a movie review, but a commentary on the actual events, my perspective of it.

I was raised in Monticello, Florida, from age 2 to age 7, when we moved to Tallahassee, primarily, I think because of national desegragation of schools in 1968, and the lack of private schools in the small town of Monticello.

Monticello had then, as it has now, a population of around 3500 people. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, the smallest in population of all Florida counties, and nearly the largest in land area, thus the most sparsely populated. It is the only Florida county that spans from the Georgia state line to the Gulf of Mexico.

For those formative years in Monticello I was raised on a singular hero concept, the United States Marines. My grandparents owned and rented a house to the Thomas family, whose son, Earnest “Boots” I. Thomas, Jr., led the platoon that actually raised the first flag on Iwo Jima. I grew up next door to where Boots grew up. A close friend of mine lived in that house, in the bedroom that used to belong to Boots, and I spent a lot of time there soaking in the glory, a glory that was stolen from him for polictcal reasons, as Flags of Our Fathers makes clear. A just cause perhaps, but to us hometown folks, it was like robbery.

My heros growing up were U.S. Marines. Superman and Batman might have been what I read, but Marines were the real heros. That’s one reason I like Chris Boggs so much, he’s the only SEO Marine I know, and damn proud of it, too.

Boots Thomas was the Platoon Seargent of a 40-man patrol that ascended Mount Suribachi on March 23, 1945, led his platoon to the top of that volcano. Boots is officially recorded as having been killed in action on March 3, 1945, eight days after raising the flag on Iwo Jima, however, my sources tell me he was actually trying to make a phone call home when he was shot by a sniper. Boots was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism for combat events occuring on March 21, 1945, two days after the assault on Iwo Jima began, two days before he raised the first flag in Iwo Jima.

The original photo of the original flag raising showing 1st Lt. Harold Schrier, Pl. Sgt. Ernest Thomas, Sgt. Henry Hansen, Col. Charles Lindberg, Pfc. Louis Chanlo, Pfc. James Michels.

My gripe is that it took nearly 40 years for Boots to be recognized with a memorial to him, and that the entire event became some political conspiracy.

During the scene of the original flag raising in the movie Flags of Our Fathers, I thought I heard someone says “Boots…”, giving an order, but I’ll have to watch the movie again to be sure. Otherwise, he’s not mentioned in the movie at all.

For additional relevant information, please check out:

http://www.co.jefferson.fl.us/history/

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/iwoflag.htm

http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292236-655075.php

http://www.flheritage.com/museum/mfh/exhibits/wwii/panel.cfm?panel=4_8

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq87-3l.htm

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 3rd, 2006 at 12:06 and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.