A new display recognizing John H. Bradley at the John H. Bradley VA Outpatient Clinic in Appleton unveiled on August 5, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
GRAND CHUTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic serving the Fox Valley held a special ceremony Tuesday for its namesake, John H. Bradley.
Bradley went to high school in Appleton and served in World War II, which ended 80 years ago.
The clinic is using the war’s anniversary to upgrade its recognition of Bradley.
A new display was unveiled with four of Bradley’s eight children present, along with one of his granddaughters. It’s an honor that his family says he would have been humbled by, but likely would have said he didn’t deserve.
“He would have said that he wasn’t the hero, that the heroes were the ones that didn’t come home,” said Sarah Bradley, Bradley’s granddaughter.
Appleton’s VA clinic opened in 1994 and was named for Bradley in 2006.
“While there’s always been a nice display here at the clinic, it lacked a fitting plaque,” said Kyle Newkirk, a volunteer services coordinator for the VA.
Officials from the VA took it a step further, unveiling the plaque, along with an array of pictures and a display filled with artifacts and mementos to the pharmacist’s mate second class in the U.S. Navy.
“It was a big surprise,” said Kate Bradley, Bradley’s daughter. “I had no idea what it was going to look like. I’m really amazed at all the thought and work that went into it.”
Bradley’s life-saving actions during the 1945 Battle Of Iwo Jima earned him the Navy Cross, the second highest award for valor next to the Medal of Honor. The award is among an array of accolades Bradley’s family didn’t find out about until after he died in 1994.
“He represents the best of America, and as a combat veteran medic, he is someone I looked up to with great pride,” said James McLain, the executive director of Milwaukee’s VA Medical Center.
Bradley’s family says his reluctance to talk about the war likely doesn’t explain why he was long thought to be one of the flag raisers in this iconic photo from atop Mount Suribachi.
In 2016, it was confirmed Bradley wasn’t in the picture, but he was there and helped raise an initial flag — now shown in pictures at the clinic.
“If somebody would have said to him after he was wounded, ‘Did you raise a flag on Iwo Jima?’ he would have said yes, because that was the truth,” said Sarah. “I think if anyone would have said, ‘We’re not sure it’s you,’ he would have said, ‘It wasn’t’ and walked away, whether it was or not.”
Bradley grew up and went to high school in Appleton, but he is originally from Antigo. That’s where he lived his life after the war having owned and managed a funeral home.
His son, James, wrote the book Flags of Our Fathers.
Comments