Wisconsin War Hero Likely Not In Famous World War II Photo, Son Says

Antigo war hero John Bradley, long thought to be one of the men raising an American flag on Iwo Jima in an iconic World War II photo, most likely isn’t pictured after all. That’s the conclusion reached by his son, author and historian James Bradley.

The younger Bradley wrote the book “Flags of Our Fathers,” (later adapted into a film version by Clint Eastwood) recounting the experiences of his father, who died believing he was in the famous photo of U.S. Marines hoisting the flag.

“My dad was awarded the Navy Cross two days before the flag raising and, as he said, it took everybody on Iwo Jima to get that flag up,” Bradley said.

But there were actually two flag raisings on Iwo Jima that day, the second of which became immortalized in the black and white image. Bradley now believes his father,John, participated in the first one, but not the second.

“My dad … was there, was a hero, he was up there on the mountain, but he was not in the iconic photo,” he said.

Bradley made his doubts public earlier this week after the U.S. Marine Corps announced it was making an inquiry into a possible misidentification.