Quiet Hero: The Ira Hayes Story (ISBN 1584302631)

Ira Hayes, American Hero:
In his latest book, the award winning children's author, S.D. Nelson, presents a story that is obviously close to his heart. QUIET HERO details the life of Ira Hayes, one of the six young soldiers who raised the American flag on Iwo Jima during WWII. The colorful illustrations carry readers of all ages through Ira's childhood experiences in a boarding school for Native American children to the island battles of the Pacific Theater where he fought bravely with his battalion. While Nelson does not hide Ira Hayes' shortcoming, the vibrant, almost tangible texture of his pictures lovingly capture the spirit of Ira's story and his attention to historic details convey a potent admiration of this American Hero. I have found this book to be both entertaining and educational for young readers.

Interesting story:
S.D. Nelson, tells the story of one of the five Marines (and one Navy corpsman) who raised the flag on Mount Suibachi during the battle for Iwo Jima. Hayes was from Arizona and a Pima Indian. Sent to the government run Phoenix Indian School as a teen, Hayes was a shy and lonely young man. He joined the Marines following Pearl Harbor and was sent into the Pacific war theater. Nelson recreates the historic flag-raising and subsequent media frenzy when the three surviving Marines returned home. Felix de Weldon's statue of Rosenthal's photograph became the Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, Va. Hayes faced great difficulty adjusting to life following the war and died within ten years of the flag-raising. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery. This is a book that will be of great interest to those kids with an interest in the military and WWII. The illustrations make the book accessible to kids of all reading levels. An author's note at the end includes photographs of Hayes, the island of Iwo Jima as well as Rosenthal's famous photograph. A bibliography is also included which is an excellent way to demonstrate how authors cite their sources. While watching the movie, "The Sands of Iwo Jima," recently, I was very interested in the scenes of the fighting on Iwo Jima. In the movie as John Wayne and his men arrive at the summit of Mount Suibachi, Wayne's character calls for a detail to find a standard and raise the flag. As Wayne hands them the flag the shot is perfectly framed to include three men receiving the folded flag. The real Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, and John Bradley, the three survivors among the five Marines who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi, were the ones receiving the flag in the scene. Rewinding and doing the freeze frame thing, I was struck by a small detail in the scene. The two men on the left are looking directly at John Wayne as he hands them the flag. Their faces are fully visible. Ira Hayes is on the right and looks up briefly but for the rest of the time they are on screen, he keeps his chin down, not looking toward the camera at all. Nelson's book makes a point of describing Hayes's very shy nature. Without knowing anything about their involvment in the film, I was interested at the body language of a man, ill at ease in the limelight.