Sands of Iwo Jima

Coincidence, two or more accidents our mind Connects by finding unconnected similar Details, becomes in film and fiction irony: John Wayne, Sergeant Stryker, before they raise the flag On Suribachi, saying "I never felt so Good in my life," and then the bullet hits. I was ten when I saw the film, Carolina Theater, Durham, NC, 1950: Newsreel, and a cartoon (Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips). After the movie, we left, my father and I, through the popcorn haunted lobby, where we found ourselves beside a man who limped, and used a cane. "Good picture," my father said. "Not bad," the man said, "Didn't come close to the real thing." "You were there? What do you remember?" "How scared I was, getting Shot at, and no cover, no place to hide, couldn't Even dig a foxhole in that stuff. It wasn't Sand, it was ashes. Never saw a Jap until After we'd taken Suribachi. They all stayed Underground. There were two flags, you know: little flag and then a flag big enough to see from the other end of the island. And the dead bodies. We lost, we lost . . . ." He turned his face, and I thought he might weep. "They killed John Wayne," I said. "They killed the Ringo Kid." I was trying to be funny. I knew It was just a movie. "Our company, when We hit the beach, over three hundred. Less than A month, no more than fifty." He stabbed with his thumb Towards the dark screen. "They can't make a movie as terrible as war." And then he turned away.