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220217-N-N1526-003

While attached to a Marine Rifle platoon of the Second Battalion, Twenty-Eighth Marines, FIFTH Marine Division, on February 21, 1945, Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John Bradley took part in a furious assault on a strongly defended enemy zone at the base of Mt. Suribachi. Bradley observed a Marine infantryman fall wounded in an open area under a pounding barrage by mortars, interlaced with a merciless crossfire from Machine guns. With complete disregard for his own safety, he ran through the intense fire to the side of the fallen Marine, examined his wounds and ascertained that an immediate administration of plasma was necessary to save the man's life. Unwilling to subject any of his comrades to the danger to which he had so valiantly exposed himself, he signaled would-be assistants to remain where they were. Placing himself in a position to shield the wounded man, he tied a plasma unit to a rifle planted upright in the sand and continued his life saving mission. The Marine's wounds bandaged and the condition of shock relieved by plasma, Bradley pulled the man thirty yards through intense enemy fire to a position of safety. Bradley was one of 14 hospital corpsmen to receive the Navy Cross for actions on Iwo Jima.