By Meredyth Albright - Daily News Editor - malbright@rhinelanderdailynews.com

Email a friend  feed   Printer friendly  Comments

Widow of flag raiser recalls family visit to island

It's a chilling scene - the famous photo of the four flag raisers on Mt. Suribachi at Iwo Jima that signaled the start of the end of World War II.

It's an image that stays with many Americans after seeing the photo.

And it's one that stayed with John Bradley, one of the flag raisers. The incident, along with all of his World War II experiences, was so personal, that the Antigo resident rarely, if ever, spoke of it.

His widow, Betty, speaking to the Rhinelander Kiwanis Club Wednesday, said she learned more about his experiences after his death than throughout his life.

She recalled the first date the couple had when she asked him about his experiences.

“This won't take long,” she said prefacing her story.

“On our first date I asked him about it and he talked for five or six minutes, almost as if he was disinterested,” she said. “I'm glad I asked because it's the only time he spoke of it.”

After John Bradley's death in 1994 the family found materials that told of the February, 1945 flag raising on Iwo Jima. That information prompted Bradley's son, Jim, to begin researching the event that eventually led to his writing the book, “Flags of Our Fathers,” which was made into a movie directed by Clint Eastwood and released last fall.

In the midst of Jim Bradley's research he contacted Marine Commandant Gen. Charles Krulach to see if he could help him get to Iwo Jima.

Krulach was planning a trip there and invited James Bradley to accompany him. James was able to extend that trip invitation to include his mother and three of his brothers.

It was her trip to Iwo Jima in 1998 that Betty Bradley spoke of earlier this week.

She walked her audience through her visit to the black sands of Iwo Jima, which means Sulfur Island, with Mt. Suribachi looming in the background.

“On our arrival we were introduced to a pharmacist mate, because my husband was a pharmacist mate, and I don't know why, but that made me emotional,” she said of the connection that introduction helped her make with her surroundings and her late husband.

She compared her walk through the Island's steep sand to the challenges the soldiers faced.

“Our boys were not prepared to land there,” she said.

“It was really hard to get around. The hillside was terraced. “I watched my sons go up and take a step that was two feet high and then go backward a foot,” she remembered.

The island doesn't look much different than it did on that day back in 1945 when the simple action by six U.S. soldiers of raising the flag, immortalized that moment in history.

She told of seeing a military vehicle rusting in the landscape.

“The Japanese have no reason to clean it up,” she said of the island which is used to train pilots.

The preservation of the island is important to the Japanese and was a wish that was preserved by Eastwood in the making of the movie.

“Before he started filming he sought permission from the Japanese government which granted him permission as long as the crews showed respect for the dead that were entombed on the island,” Bradley said.

She said Eastwood's respect for the deceased was so great that he declined and had crew members search for another site for filming, which ended up being in Iceland which is also home to black sand.

That was one difference between reality and the movie that Bradley mentioned, as well as the circumstances of John Bradley's death.

“In the movie they had him falling over in the funeral home, (which he owned and is now owned by two of his sons), when he really fell over in our kitchen,” Betty said of the stroke that killed him. “He never came to, but in the movie they had him coming to and talking to Jim.”

The Bradley family's visit to the island was short - just a few hours long, but before they left they held a small ceremony to pay tribute to the flag raisers and all who had served on Iwo Jima.

James Bradley had pictures of each of the flag raisers which he let go in the wind and the family placed a monument in the shape of Wisconsin on the island. The small monument was later cemented into place by the U.S. Marines.

In keeping with John Bradley's unassuming manner, the family chose to subtly pay tribute to his Marine service when it selected his gravestone to be of the same marble as the Marine monument.

Tell us what you think...

Comments »

James Hickey wrote on Apr 14, 2007 5:35 PM: " A great story about a great family!!!! " The comments above are from readers. In no way do they represent the views of the Rhinelander Daily News.

Post a comment (150 word limit) »

We will not post reader comments containing racial, religious or personal attacks, slander, profanity, e-mail addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers or Web site addresses that are for personal or promotional gain.

Name: Email: (optional) Comments: Image Verification: (Case sensitive)

Thank you for your comments! Once your comments are approved, they will appear on the site.