During the battle, he was a member of the patrol that captured the top of Mount Suribachi and raised the first U.S. flag on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945.

[2][3] Bradley is one of three men who were originally identified incorrectly as flag-raisers in the photograph (the others being Hank Hansen and Rene Gagnon).

After the battle, Bradley and two Marines were identified as surviving second flag-raisers and were reassigned to help raise funds for the Seventh War Loan drive.

On February 19, 1945, the 5th Marine Division which included Bradley took part in the assault on Iwo Jima which was one of the most bitterly fought battles of the Pacific War's island-hopping campaign.

First Lieutenant Harold Schrier, his executive officer and former Marine Raider, was chosen by Lt. Col. Johnson to be in command of the patrol to take the men up Mount Suribachi.

This flag raising was also filmed in color by Marine sergeant Bill Genaust (killed in action in March) and was used in newsreels.

In March 1945, President Roosevelt ordered that the flag raisers in Joe Rosenthal's photograph be sent immediately after the battle to Washington, D.C., to appear as a public morale factor.

[2][17] Private first class Gagnon had returned with his unit to Camp Tarawa in Hawaii when he was ordered on April 3 to report to Marine Corps headquarters at Washington, D.C.

He arrived on April 7, and was questioned by a lieutenant colonel at the Marine Corps public information office concerning the identities of those in the photo.

After Gagnon gave the names of the flag raisers, Bradley and Hayes were ordered to report to Marine Corps headquarters.

Hayes agreed with all the names too including his own except he said the man identified as Sergeant Hansen at the base of the flagstaff in the photo was really Corporal Harlon Block.

On April 20, Gagnon, Hayes, and Bradley met President Truman at the White House and each showed him their positions in the flag-raising poster that was on display there for the coming bond tour that they would participate in.

The bond tour was held in 33 American cities that raised over $26 billion to help pay for and win the war.

Bradley married Betty Van Gorp (1924–2013),[19] settled in Antigo, had eight children, and was active in numerous civic clubs, rarely taking part in ceremonies celebrating the flag-raising—and by the 1960s avoiding them altogether.

Bradley's wife later said he was tormented by memories of the war, wept in his sleep for the first four years of their marriage and kept a large knife in a dresser drawer for "protection".

[21] Hayes, one of the three surviving flag raisers depicted on the monument, was also seated upfront with John Bradley, Rene Gagnon (incorrectly identified as a flag raiser until October 16, 2019),[22] Mrs Martha Strank, Mrs. Ada Belle Block, and Mrs. Goldie Price (mother of Franklin Sousley).

[23][21] Inscribed on the memorial are the following words: On January 11, 1994, Bradley died at the age of 70 at a hospital in Antigo, Wisconsin, having suffered a heart attack and subsequently a stroke.

[16] Sergeant Henry Hansen, Private Phil Ward, and he had worked on making the first flagstaff stay vertical in the ground.

In 1949, during the filming of the movie Sands of Iwo Jima, Bradley told his wife to tell the townspeople that he was on a business trip in order to avoid attention that would be drawn to him.

His son James Bradley 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 his sad memories of his close friend on Iwo Jima who was killed by the Japanese, Marine Ralph "Iggy" Ignatowski.

I've tried hard to forget all this.Official reports revealed Ignatowski was captured, dragged into a tunnel by Japanese soldiers during the battle, and later found with his eyes, ears, fingernails, and tongue removed, his teeth smashed, the back of his head caved in, multiple bayonet wounds to the abdomen, and his arms broken.

[16] Bradley's recollections of discovering and taking care of Ignatowski's remains haunted him until his death, and he suffered for many years from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Three Marine Corps investigations were held after World War II into the identities of the second flag-raisers who were made famous by the Joe Rosenthal photograph.

[4] A Marine Corps investigation of the identities of the six second flag-raisers began in December 1946 and concluded in January 1947 that it was corporal Harlon Block and not sergeant Henry Hansen at the base of the flagstaff in the Rosenthal photograph, and that no blame was to be placed on anyone in this matter.

[27][28] A third Marine Corps investigation into the identities of the six second flag-raisers concluded in October 2019, that Keller was in Rosenthal's photograph in place of Private First Class Rene Gagnon (fifth from left).

Suribachi, Bradley observed a Marine infantryman fall wounded in an open area under a pounding barrage by mortars, interlaced with a merciless crossfire from Machine guns.

With complete disregard for his own safety, he ran through the intense fire to the side of the fallen Marine, examined his wounds and ascertained that an immediate administration of plasma was necessary to save the man's life.

Placing himself in a position to shield the wounded man, he tied a plasma unit to a rifle planted upright in the sand and continued his life saving mission.

The Marine's wounds bandaged and the condition of shock relieved by plasma, Bradley pulled the man thirty yards through intense enemy fire to a position of safety.

His indomitable spirit, dauntless initiative, and heroic devotion to duty were an inspiration to those with whom he served and were in keeping with the highest tradition of the United States Naval Service.Bradley played and was portrayed as an American flag raiser in the following films (prior to his 2016 second flag raiser identification correction:[2] The following are named in memory of Bradley: