(Second entry today)

Wife and I stumbled onto a show on the A&E channel last night that was irrestible to me.

"Heroes of Iwo Jima".

If you've read one of my earlier entries, you know why.

Incredible. A detailed, photographic history of the 5th Marine Division's part in the invasion of Iwo Jima, particularly the battalion my father was assigned to, the 28th.

Didn't learn much new. Dad's old history books covered pretty much the same ground, and they gave the same details and corrected the same misconceptions.

Did learn the reason for the second flag wasn't because the Marine Colonel didn't want a marine to swipe it as a souvenir. It was because he didn't want Forrestal, the bureaucratic Secretary of the Navy, to swipe it.

But this show had movie footage! I couldn't believe it! They had several movie cameras going through all phases of the invasion.

Aerial footage of the fleets of invasion craft. And my Dad was on one of those LSTs.

Movie footage of the GIs on the beach cheering as the first flag went up on Suribachi. Knowing that Dad was at that moment at the base of the volcano we were looking at, starting their climb to the top.

Footage of Easy Company on top with the flags. The men that Dad slept with that night, on those very rocks.

The view of the rest of the island battle from the safe perch on high.

I couldn't turn away. I am not a military history buff. But this battle just enthralls me. (That, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn.)

Got pretty choked up.

Am again now.

Once we figured out what the show was about, I called Dad during the first commercial break. He had already seen it, earlier in the week. And we talked about the weather and his Father's Day gift. Nothing said about Iwo.

When the commercials ended, I abruptly, but not quite rudely, hung up on him to get back to the show.

Ignoring the "now" to pay attention to the "then."

Probably pay for that sin some time in the future.