The date is February 19, 1945 and on the horizon lies Iwo Jima wreathed in smoke. That's what John Bradley saw in a landing craft heading towards the most bloody battle of the Pacific theater. John Bradley shows courage and selflessness. That is why he is my hero.
Courage, this is what John Bradley had shown by going to war, not by being drafted but by enlisting. He also ran across a deadly crossfire to save a man he saw get cut down by a machine gun. Then he injected plasma and dragged the soldier back 30 yards through the crossfire to safety. This action would later earn him the Navy Cross. That shows how John Bradley has courage and a lot of it.
John Bradley also showed selflessness by saving that man and always trying to help his squad. They looked up to him. Also John Bradley said to his kids' I'm not a hero the people still on that island are the real heroes. He would run thought blazing machine gun fire just to help someone who got shot. Not all medics would do that for fear of their own life. That is how John Bradley is selfless.
Some people may say John Bradley's not a hero since all medics would run through fire to save a man's life. Yet John Bradley did this act time and time again. Also it wasn't in an area with cover, it was on beaches where nothing could stop a bullet but a body. Or people may say John Bradley was just an ordinary person in those 70,000 men who landed on the beaches of Iwo Jima. But did they win a Navy Cross? How many lives did they save?
So that is why I think John Bradley is a hero by showing a lot of courage and selflessness. He is a hero due to his saving lives and putting his own life in danger and going to war by choice. Robert E. Lee once said “ It's a good thing war is horrible, or we might grow to like it.”
