In 1963, Johnny Cash took a cover of the song The Ballad of Ira Hayes all the way to number three on the Billboard country charts. I've heard the song dozens of times, but I heard it in a new way this morning, since last night Wally and I and gang saw Flags Of Our Fathers. Hayes is the guy to the far left in the iconic photo of Americans raising the flag on the island of Iwo Jima during World War II.Here's the lyrics to the song.
I could write a lot about this movie, how it was deeply moving on a number of levels -- for what it illuminates about the past and the present, about history and memory, about war, about families, about friendships and sacrifice -- but I won't. Let's just say that I think it was extraordinary.
I'm turning off comments on this post, something I haven't done for any of the 400-plus posts I've written since starting this blog last May. If some porn spammer replied to this post, I think I'd lose it, though I thoroughly honor the fact that, in this country, they have the freedom to annoy me.
