On February 19 1945 Thomas McPhatter found himself on a landing craft heading toward the beach on Iwo Jima. "There were bodies bobbing up all around, all these dead men," said the former US marine, now 83 and living in San Diego. "Then we were crawling on our bellies and moving up the beach. I jumped in a foxhole and there was a young white marine holding his family pictures. He had been hit by shrapnel, he was bleeding from the ears, nose and mouth. It frightened me. The only thing I could do was lie there and repeat the Lord's prayer, over and over and over." Where have all the black soldiers gone? African-Americans written out of Pacific war in Clint Eastwood's new film, veterans say Dan Glaister in Los Angeles Saturday October 21, 2006 The Guardian On February 19 1945 Thomas McPhatter found himself on a landing craft heading toward the beach on Iwo Jima. "There were bodies bobbing up all around, all these dead men," said the former US marine, now 83 and living in San Diego. "Then we were crawling on our bellies and moving up the beach. I jumped in a foxhole and there was a young white marine holding his family pictures. He had been hit by shrapnel, he was bleeding from the ears, nose and mouth. It frightened me. The only thing I could do was lie there and repeat the Lord's prayer, over and over and over." Article continues Sadly, Sgt McPhatter's experience is not mirrored in Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood's big-budget, Oscar-tipped film of the battle for the Japanese island that opened on Friday in the US. While the film's battle scenes show scores of young soldiers in combat, none of them are African-American. Yet almost 900 African-American troops took part in the battle of Iwo Jima, including Sgt McPhatter.This reminds me of the film Pearl Harbor seemed to lack a single shot portraying a single native Hawaiian. It's as though the only people who died on that day were white. The same goes for Eastwood's new film. Inconveniently enough, a Native American, was one of the guys in the classic Iwo Jima photograph, so he HAD to deal with a non-white. But showing a SINGLE black man in uniform fighting? Apparently that was too much. I guess this shouldn't surprise us too much in a film directed by a guy who Million Dollar Baby, a film that take a decidedly anti-disabled-person view point. I guess the nice thing is that that Flags seems to be performing well below expectations. Could it be that in "a time of war" when things are going really, really, really badly in that war, people just don't want to see a war movie? I'd say so, especially when a movie about a couple of rival magicians comes in number 1.
Orignal From: BLACKS MISSING IN CLINT'S NEW MOVIE
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