James Joseph Bradley, co-author of the best-selling book "Flags of Our Fathers," died on June 5 at the age of 72, his daughter Alison Cinnamond confirmed. Bradley gained recognition for exploring the story of his father’s involvement in the Battle of Iwo Jima and the famous flag-raising photograph taken on Mount Suribachi during World War II.

Born on February 18, 1954, in Antigo, Wisconsin, Bradley was one of eight children of John and Elizabeth Bradley. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1977 with a degree in East Asian history before embarking on a career that began in cookware sales and later moved into corporate event and video production. Although initially untrained as a writer, his curiosity about his father’s wartime experiences led him to write "Flags of Our Fathers," which he co-authored with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Powers.

Published in 2000, the book recounted the experiences of the six men involved in the iconic February 23, 1945, photograph captured by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. The striking image showed American servicemen raising the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the intense five-week battle against Japanese forces on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima. The book remained on The New York Times Best Sellers list for 46 weeks, reaching number one, and was later adapted into a 2006 film directed by Clint Eastwood.

Bradley’s narrative detailed not only the heroism on the battlefield but also the postwar lives of the survivors, including his father, John "Doc" Bradley, who had been widely believed to be one of the flag-raisers. However, decades after the book’s publication, questions arose about the accuracy of this identification. In 2014, amateur historians raised doubts that Doc Bradley was in the famous photograph. Bradley himself initially resisted these claims but later accepted evidence that his father was not in the iconic image, but instead appeared in a separate, earlier flag-raising photo taken the same day. A Marine Corps investigation in 2016 confirmed that Harold Schultz, a private first class, was one of the men depicted in the acclaimed photograph, and further corrections about other participants followed in subsequent years.

John Bradley, a Navy corpsman who received the Navy Cross for valor during the battle, kept many of his wartime experiences private until his death in 1994. His family discovered letters and memorabilia that illuminated his role in the battle and the flag-raising events.

In addition to "Flags of Our Fathers," James Bradley wrote several other works focusing on Asian history and American military involvement in the Pacific. His books include “Flyboys: A True Story of Courage” (2003), which recounted the fate of American pilots captured by the Japanese during World War II, “The Imperial Cruise” (2009), a critical look at Theodore Roosevelt’s policies in Asia, and “The China Mirage” (2015), which examined U.S. relations with China over two centuries. He also authored a Vietnam War-era novel, “Precious Freedom.”

Bradley’s contributions helped deepen public understanding of the complexities and personal stories behind iconic World War II imagery and broadened discourse on American military history in the Asia-Pacific region. He is survived by four children, two sisters, five brothers, and two grandchildren.