John Henry "Jack" "Doc" Bradley was a United States Navy Hospital corpsman who served alongside the Marines during World War II. He is best known for his actions during the Battle of Iwo Jima in early 1945, where he demonstrated extraordinary heroism. For his brave actions during the intense combat on the island, Bradley was awarded the Navy Cross. On February 23, 1945, he was part of the patrol that successfully scaled Mount Suribachi, captured its summit, and raised the first United States flag.
For decades, Bradley was widely believed to be one of the men depicted in Joe Rosenthal's iconic photograph, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, which captured a second, larger flag being raised on the mountain. However, following a formal investigation in 2016, the Marine Corps publicly announced that Bradley was not actually in the famous photograph. The individual previously identified as Bradley was determined to be Private First Class Franklin Sousley. While Bradley did not participate in the second raising, he was photographed holding the flagstaff of the first flag after it was raised, and he was also photographed near the second flag.
Following the battle, Bradley and two Marines were initially identified as surviving flag-raisers from the famous photograph and were reassigned to the United States to participate in the Seventh War Loan drive to raise funds for the war effort. The iconic image they were associated with eventually served as the model for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Bradley lived the remainder of his life after the war, passing away in 1994.
