During World War II, he earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions as chief of staff of the 32nd Infantry Division during the battle for New Guinea in December 1942.

During the Korean War, Bradley earned a second Distinguished Service Cross for his actions as assistant commander of the 2nd Infantry Division during the battle of Yongsan in September 1950.

[2] He was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy Class of 1921 from South Dakota but listed his hometown as Washington, D.C. Bradley enrolled at West Point in June 1917 and was commissioned as an infantry officer on 1 November 1918 because of World War I.

[5][6] From September 1925 to August 1926, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his training included construction and excavation principles.

[2][5] From July to September 1919, Bradley visited the battlefields of Belgium, France and Italy, as well as Army of Occupation bases in Germany.

He was next sent back to the Philippines, where he was an aide-de-camp to Brigadier General Stanley H. Ford and adjutant of the 23rd Brigade in Manila from June 1933 to May 1935.

[5][6] From June 1937 to October 1938, Bradley was again an aide-de-camp to Stanley H. Ford, by now a major general, at Fort Omaha, Nebraska.

[11] Bradley contracted hepatitis and relinquished command to Major General Ira P. Swift in July 1951.

[14] In February 1955, Bradley was chosen to be military advisor to Dr. James B. Conant, who President Dwight D. Eisenhower had nominated to be the first United States ambassador to West Germany.

He died at the Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C. and was buried at the West Point Cemetery four days later.