John Bradley rarely talked about Iwo Jima, and never at length.

        It wasn't until after Mr. Bradley died in 1994 that his son, James Bradley, discovered three cardboard boxes with his father's mementoes and letters from the war, which triggered a hunger “to know the heroic part of my dad,” James Bradley would write.

        That led to writing a book, Flags Of Our Fathers (Bantam, $24.95, published this past spring), an account of the battle for Iwo Jima. It's homage to those who fought, died and survived on Iwo, and an exploration of the transcendent values of home and family.

        John Bradley was one of the six U.S. Marines who raised the flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima on Feb. 23, 1945 (actually, the six raised a replacement flag, but their effort was immortalized by photographer Joe Rosenthal).

        Yet, in subsequent years, about the only thing John Bradley had to say about Iwo was: “The real heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who didn't come back.”

        The book is mostly the story of the six Marines who raised the American flag, producing an enduring image that was at once inspiring but also mythical. It is about the power of symbols, and a heroism born of compassion and a sense of brotherhood.

        Three of the Marines never made it off the island. Mike Strank of Pennsylvania, Harlon Block of Texas and Franklin Sousley of Kentucky were all killed on Iwo Jima.

        Ira Hayes, an American Indian from a reservation in Arizona, was found dead at the age of 32 in 1954. Rene Gagnon, of New Hampshire, died of a heart attack in 1979.

        As the younger Mr. Bradley reflects on what he learned of his father and what he did on Iwo, he comes to realize that just as commendable was his life following the war. His father's life would “shine as an example of the best of small-town American values.”