Appleton's John Bradley stands by a poster based on the famous Iwo Jima photo.
(This image comes from the US Marines and is in the public domain, according to Wikipedia.)

John Bradley, a man from Appleton, is one of the soldiers raising the flag in the famous photo from Iwo Jima in 1945. His son, James, is author of the best-selling book, Flags of our Fathers, which deals with the lives of the six men in that photo. John Bradley died in 1994, the last of the six to pass away. John Bradley is being honored with a new orchestral piece that the Fox Valley Symphony has commissioned as part of its 2006/2007 anniversary season. The work is "Quiet Heroes (A Symphonic Salute to the Flag Raisers at Iwo Jima)." Chris Brubeck, the East coast jazz musician and composer, is writing the music. Can't wait to hear it!

The magazine Boomers and Beyond has an article on this story (the link is to page 1) with a photo of John Bradley on page 2 (also see page 3, page 4, page 5, and page 6 of the article, each a PDF file).

For another photo of John Bradley, the photo at Iwo Jima, and details about the people in it, see "The Flag Raisers" at IwoJima.com and also see the Wikipedia entry for John Bradley.

Appleton remains proud of John Bradley and our many other war heroes and patriotic service men of the past and present.