Major General James Lester Bradley (May 18, 1891 − July 30, 1957) was a United States Army officer who commanded the 96th Infantry Division throughout its existence in World War II.

Several of his fellow graduates included men who, like Bradley, would become future general officers, like Carl Spaatz, Frank W. Milburn, John B. Anderson, Harold R. Bull, Orlando Ward and Brehon B. Somervell.

[1][4] For most of the war his assistant division commander (ADC) was Brigadier General Claudius Miller Easley.

The division continued fighting in mainly small-unit actions until, by Christmas Day 1944, all organized resistance by the Japanese had ceased.

From then onwards, Bradley's 96th Division was, for the next three months, engaged mainly in security duties, clearing up the rest of the island of Japanese resistance, and training for future operations, most notably the upcoming invasion of Okinawa.

[1] The initial invasion of Okinawa was the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific War and the subsequent battle saw one of the highest casualty rates of any campaign fought during World War II, with the Japanese losing well over 100,000 men, and the Allies suffering 50,000 casualties, roughly half the number of the Japanese.

Bradley, after well over three decades of continuous military service, retired from the army in 1947, and was granted the permanent rank of major general.

On July 30, 1957, Bradley, who had then been undergoing treatment for a heart ailment, was found dead after drowning in a swimming pool in his daughter Mildred's home in Lafayette, California.