Jack Bradley

Jack "Doc" Bradley was one of the six Marines who hoisted the American flag on Iwo Jima during the Pacific phase of World War II. The story first finds Jack growing up in an idyllic neighborhood in Appleton, Milwaukee. He and his four siblings were raised by his protective father and devout Catholic mother.

When Jack was just eighteen, World War II was raging in Europe. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, America could only respond with full engagement. It was then that Jack's father advised him to join the Navy and thus avoid getting drafted and being sent into combat. Little did either one know that the path Jack would take with the Navy would land him in one of the most brutal battles in U.S. history.

Just like the other five flag raisers, Jack just happened onto the scene when a make-shift flagpole affixed...