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John "Doc" Bradley (also known as Jack Bradley) (July 10, 1923-January 11, 1994) was a Navy Corpsman during World War 2, and one of the six men who took part in the famous flag-raising on Iwo Jima.
Born John Henry Bradley in Antigo, Wisconsin to parents James and Kathryn, he was the second-eldest of five children. Growing up in Appleton, Wisconsin, John Bradley had an interest in entering the funeral parlor business from an early age.
When he was 19, he enlisted in the Navy rather than wait to be drafted; he thought that he would avoid land combat in this way, but, unfortunately, he eventually participated in one of the worst battles in the history of the Marine Corps. In March, 1943, John was selected to join the Seabees, but his father angrily protested this decision and John received training as a Navy Corpsman instead (where he came to be known affectionately as "Doc Bradley").
After the flag-raising at Mt. Suribachi, John Bradley received a Navy Cross for rushing to a wounded man's aid under heavy Japanese fire. He received several shrapnel wounds to his legs a few days later, and was evacuated from the combat zone to a hospital in Hawaii.
 Marines raising the Flag on Iwo Jima |
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Following his appearances at the last bond tour, John Bradley married his childhood sweetheart Betty Van Gorp, settled down in Antigo, and had eight children. He fulfilled his life-long dream by buying and managing his own funeral parlor, but was tormented by memories of the war - Betty says he wept in his sleep for several years and kept a large knife in a dresser drawer for "protection". His son James Bradley (who wrote a book about the flag-raisers in the year 2000 called Flags of our Fathers) speculated that his father's determined silence and discomfort on the subject of his role in the Battle of Iwo Jima was largely due to memories of John's best friend, Ralph "Iggy" Ignatowski, whose mutilated and tortured corpse he recovered after its mistreatment by Japanese soldiers. John's family had no idea he had received a Navy Cross until after his death. John Bradley died of a stroke in an Antigo hospital on January 11th, 1994, at the age of 71.
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