Photo by Nikolas Knapp From left: Robert Lowe, Brooke Ludemann and Jim Booth.

Photo by Nikolas Knapp From left: Duane Deterding, Sen. Tom Hansen and Don Piper.

Photo by Nikolas Knapp Defenders of Liberty

Photo by Nikolas Knapp Bronze sculpture of Tricia Jameson

Although recognized as a hero, John Bradley didn’t talk much about his service to his country.

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Lincoln County Commissioner Duane Deterding talked, however, about Bradley and his role in the landing at Iwo Jima. Deterding was the featured speaker Monday at a Memorial Day observance in North Platte.

The observance at the 20th Century Veterans Memorial started with a welcome by veteran Jim Booth. Robert Lowe read the invocation.

Miss Nebraska Outstanding Teen Brooke Ludemann sang the National Anthem. Booth led the Pledge of Allegiance. Then Deterding, a former U.S. Marine, spoke.

Deterding read from a story called "6 Boys and 13 Hands" written by James Bradley, author of the book "Flags of our Fathers."

The story began with a group of students getting off a bus at the statue of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima in Washington, D.C. James Bradley was standing alone at the statue when the students walked up. He asked them where they were from. They said Clinton, Wisc. Bradley told them he was a "Cheesehead" from Wisconsin too and asked if they would they like to hear a story.

He talked about each of the six soldiers depicted on the statue. The last soldier he described was his father, John Bradley. James said his father was a medic, and one of three soldiers who raised the flag and survived Iwo Jima and the war.

Bradley told the students that his father never talked about the war. He told his kids that when people would come to see him, that their father was fishing in Canada, and could not be reached by telephone. His father thought the flag-raising had received enough publicity.

James Bradley said it had a deep impact on his life.

When Bradley finished telling the story to the students, he was asked about a rumor that the statue of six men shows 13 hands. Bradley said if so, the 13th hand would be the hand of God.

Deterding couldn't remember when he first heard Bradley's story, but called it one of his favorite stories about World War II. Deterding said the Iwo Jima statue is the biggest bronze in the United States. He chose the story because he feels that most people don't know the details behind the raising of the flag.

The day’s ceremony ended with Ludemann singing "God Bless America" and Lowe reading the Benediction. Don Piper played taps.

North Platte resident Jack Nichols, who attended, said he recognized many veterans at the ceremony.

Afterwards, Ludemann talked about the ceremony earlier in the day at Ft. McPherson. She said it was “breath-taking.”

“It was a heart-stopping, and once-in-a-lifetime experience”, Ludemann said. “Everyone should visit ‘the fort’ for the love of fallen soldiers.”

Among the starutes at the memorial was one of Sgt. First Class Tricia L. Jameson of the Nebraska Army Medical Guard. A shrine to the “Defenders of Liberty,” sculpted by Ted Long, stands at the front of the memorial and a walkway lined with bricks. People took pictures and remembered them.

There are 2,500 spaces available for bricks, out of a total of 5,800 spaces. Each brick costs $150 to inscribe and display, officials said.

The plaques and statues that stand in and around the memorial are the last ones that will be placed there, board members Cal Stratton and John Dorwart said.