John Bradley (Navy)

John Bradley
Bradley standing next to a poster of the second flag-raising on Mount Suribachi, in May 1945
Birth name	John Henry Bradley
Nickname(s)	"Jack" or "Doc"
Born	(1923-07-10)July 10, 1923 Antigo, Wisconsin
Died	January 11, 1994(1994-01-11) (aged 70) Antigo, Wisconsin
Place of burial	Queen of Peace Catholic Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1942–1945
Rank	Pharmacist's Mate Second Class
Unit	2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of Iwo Jima
Awards	Navy Cross Purple Heart Medal Combat Action Ribbon

World War II

John Henry "Jack" "Doc" Bradley (July 10, 1923 – January 11, 1994) was a United States Navy Hospital corpsman who was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism in combat on February 21, 1945 while assigned to a U.S. Marine Corps rifle company during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

Bradley was widely believed for decades to be one of the six U.S. flag-raisers depicted in Joe Rosenthal's iconic photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima and was depicted on the Marine Corps War Memorial. In 2016, a Marine Corps review board determined that although Bradley was involved with the first of two American flag–raisings on top of Mount Suribachi, on February 23, he was not one of the men shown raising the replacement flag in Rosenthal's photograph. This was the Marine Corps second correction of the six men's identities they named in the photograph in 1945 (the first correction was in 1947). The Marine memorial located in Arlington, Virginia, which was modeled after Rosenthal's photograph and dedicated in 1954, depicts bronze statues of each of the second flag–raisers.

Born John Henry Bradley in Antigo, Wisconsin, to James ("Cabbage") and Kathryn Bradley, he was the second of five children. He grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin, graduating from Appleton Senior High School in 1941. He reportedly had an interest in entering the funeral business from an early age, and completed an 18-month apprenticeship course with a local funeral director before he entered military service.

Bradley enlisted the U.S. Navy on January 13, 1943 when his father suggested it as a way to avoid ground combat. Following his completion of Navy recruit training at the Farragut Naval Training Station at Bayview, Idaho, he was assigned to the Hospital Corps School at Farragut, Idaho in March 1943. After completing the Hospital corpsman course, he was assigned to Naval Hospital Oakland in Oakland, California. In January 1944, he was assigned to the Fleet Marine Force and sent one of the "field medical service schools" at a Marine Corps base for training to serve with Marines. After completing the course, he was assigned to the 5th Marine Division on April 15, a newly activated infantry division which was then being formed at Camp Pendleton, California. He was reassigned there to Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment of the division.