James Bradley (author)

James Bradley (born 1954) is an American author, specializing in historical nonfiction chronicling the Pacific theatre of World War II. His father, John Bradley, was long thought to be one of the six men who was in the photograph raising the American flag on Mt. Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. That photograph has gone on to be one of the most duplicated and reproduced photos ever taken.

On June 23, 2016, the Marine Corps announced after an investigation, that John Bradley was not in Rosenthal's photograph of six Marines raising the second (and larger) flag on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, although he had been involved in the first raising of a smaller flag hours before.

In 2000, Bradley published Flags of Our Fathers, written with the author Ron Powers, which tells the story of five U.S. Marines and a United States Navy corpsman attached to the Marines Corps (his father, John Bradley who did not raise the second larger flag), raising the American flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Seventh War Loan Drive after the battle. In that book, which spent 46 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was made into a film directed by Clint Eastwood, Bradley took great care to locate and speak with family and friends who actually knew the men depicted. In doing this, he received praise for his realistic portrayals and bringing the men involved to life.

The book and the film is an in-depth look at those involved and their war-time service. Of the six men who raised the second and larger replacement flag on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, PhM2c. John Bradley, although he had been involved only in the first raising of a smaller flag hours before, was not involved in the second flag raising, Pfc. Ira Hayes, and Pfc. Rene Gagnon were the only survivors of the battle. Sgt. Michael Strank, Cpl. Harlon Block, and Pfc. Franklin Sousley were killed in action later on in the battle. The book and film tell the story in a before, during, and after format, and both were well received upon their release. An impromptu speech Bradley, who did not raise the flag, gave at the Marine Corps War Memorial (sometimes called the Iwo Jima memorial) was transcribed by Michael T. Powers in October 2000, and widely circulated on the Internet. On June 23, 2016, the United States Marine Corps identified Cpl. Harold Schultz as the sixth flag raiser for the second flag.

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