John Bradley; Last of Marines Who Raised U.S. Flag on Iwo Jima

John Bradley, 70, the last survivor of those who helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima in the Pulitzer Prize-winning World War II photograph. A Navy pharmacist’s mate second class, Bradley helped five Marines raise the flag atop Mt. Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945. It was the first time the American flag had flown over Japanese territory and became a symbol of Americans in battle. Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal’s prize-winning photo of the moment (actually a staged second raising with a bigger flag) became the model for the Iwo Jima Memorial near Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Three of the six men in the photograph died in battle. The other two war survivors, Ira Hayes and Rene Gagnon, died in 1955 and 1979, respectively. Bradley, who worked in his family-owned suburban Milwaukee funeral home, maintained that he had done nothing heroic and refused interviews for more than 40 years. On Tuesday in Antigo, Wis., of a stroke.