An Unforgettable Tale of Heroism and Friendship

At 2:00 AM local time on February 19, 1945, the large guns of the USS North Carolina, the USS Washington, and the USS West Virginia signaled the launch of one of the most horrific amphibious assaults in the history of America. On that morning, 30,000 American marines stormed the beaches of the tiny Pacific island, Iwo Jima.

When they first stepped ashore, these marines were met with an eerie silence. Those who recount the story tell how our men believed that the naval bombardment had destroyed everyone on the island.

Although the island only covered a few square miles, the Japanese had built a system of interlacing tunnels below it that went on for hundreds of miles. As our boys pushed onto the beaches, the Japanese hunkered down inside their tunnels waiting for us to fill the beaches…waiting to ambush us.

Once the beach was filled with American warriors and military equipment, the Japanese unleashed a fierce barrage of heavy machine gun fire and a deadly wave of harsh artillery slaughtering our fighting men by the masses.

The Haunting Memories of a Lost Brother-in-Arms

Among those soldiers who stormed the beaches of Iwo Jima that day was a Navy corpsmen named John Bradley. Doc Bradley, as they called him, was assigned to serve as the medic for a small group of marines.

Before charging onto the island they had given him the option to choose who he wanted to serve as his partner during this battle. It wasn’t difficult to make that decision. He chose his best friend, Ralph “Iggy” Ignatowski. Unfortunately, however, Doc Bradley’s battle buddy would never make it home from that island.

I have tried so hard to block this out. To forget it. We could choose a buddy to go in with. My buddy was a guy from Milwaukee. We were pinned down in one area. Someone elsewhere fell injured and I ran to help out, and when I came back my buddy was gone. I couldn’t figure out where he was. I could see all around, but he wasn’t there. And nobody knew where he was.

A few days later someone yelled that they’d found him. They called me over because I was a corpsman. The Japanese had pulled him underground and tortured him. His fingernails… his tongue… It was terrible. I’ve tried hard to forget all this.”

—John Bradley

His wife, Betty, will tell you that Doc Bradley wept in his sleep for the first few years of their marriage. He struggled to ever share what happened but after years of dealing with the memories and nightmares, he finally opened up to his son, James Bradley.

To understand the true gravity of what Ignatowski endured on that horrific island, consider the following quote taken from Wikipedia:

According to James Bradley, as recounted in Flags of our Fathers, official reports revealed Ignatowski was captured, dragged into a tunnel by Japanese soldiers during the battle, and was later found with his eyes, ears, fingernails, and tongue removed, his teeth smashed, the back of his head caved in, multiple bayonet wounds to the abdomen, his arms broken, and his severed genitalia stuffed into his mouth. John Bradley’s recollections of discovering and taking care of Ignatowski’s remains haunted him until his death.

Of the six men whose pictures were captured in the most famous photograph of World War II, only 3 made it off the island alive. Of those three, only 1 lived what we would call a normal life. But even that one soldier would be haunted for a lifetime with the memories of his lost comrade.

John Bradley is an American hero. It wasn’t until after his death when his family was sorting through his belongings that his family would find out that he had earned the Navy Cross. He had served valiantly and had done great things for our nation.

Yet he lived life consumed with the agony that he had left his battle buddy even if it was only for a short moment.

Battle Buddies: The Lesson that History Teaches

Today as we enter the Military, we’re trained from the very first day on the importance of having a battle buddy. We look to protect each other, to grab each other and drag each other back to safety if one of us get shot or wounded. As a soldier, this relationship is absolutely vital. In some circumstances not only my success but also, as we just saw above, my life may even depend on it.

This relationship between two combat soldiers is the same as the relationships that we need to be building in all areas of our life.  To really excel in a career or with a personal set of goals can be a grueling battle.  It’s nearly impossible for someone to do on their own.  That’s why you need battle buddies.

For some of you, your battle buddy might be your husband or wife. They’re always there for you to talk to and to encourage you as you work to do your best in life. They encourage you, motivate you and work to give you the strength to keep moving forward.

For others, this battle buddy might be a close friend, someone in whom you can truly confide. For yet others, it might be a stranger to whom you extend a hand of kindness much like in the case of the good Samaritan.

The truth is that I want to be your battle buddy and I want you to be mine. I want each of you to reach out to every person you can with a helpful hand. Live sacrificially.

Note #1: To read the full story of John Bradley’s heroism, read Flags of our Fathers written by his son, James Bradley. It’s one of the best World War II books I have ever read.

Note #2: In this post, I’m using a story of a real hero and we’re looking together at something that he did that he spent his entire life regretting but I’m trying to be very careful that I don’t come across as critiquing him…because that’s certainly not my intention. Rather I hope that I express the type of attitude that simply says, “Let’s learn from a hard lesson that this great American can teach us.”