[The following is about James Bradley, Sr., the father of one of the flagraisers at Iwo Jima, John Bradley.]
A good man, all around, caught up in bad economic times. In Antigo, James Bradley, Sr., had proudly worn a railroad man’s uniform and plied his skills in a variety of jobs on the freight trains that crisscrossed the state. The Depression cut deeply into rail freight, and layoffs crippled the livelihoods of James and many of his fellow “Rails.” It was then that he uprooted his family for the more prosperous environs of Appleton.
There, he found work, and also had the misadventure of his career. During a shift as an engineer, he took a curve one day with a little too much throttle, and a boxcar filled with cabbages yawed and spilled all over the wayside. His buddies at the bar turned it into a hilarious local legend, and crowned him with the nickname “Cabbage.”
Source:
Bradley, James, and Ron Powers. “All-American Boys.” Flags of Our Fathers. Bantam Dell, a Division of Random House, Inc., 2006. 20. Print.
Further Reading:
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