Bro General Omar Bradley gave his name to the Bradley Fighting Vehicle

Portrait of Bradley

Brother Omar Nelson Bradley 

With all the activity overseas and having just had the 82nd Anniversary of D Day, this weeks highlight is Brother Omar Nelson Bradley born into poverty on the 12th February 1893, in Randolph County, Missouri USA.

When he was 15 his father passed away and his mother moved the family to Moberly, Missouri and remarried. he graduated from Moberly High School in 1910.  He considered Moberly his home for the rest of his life no matter where he travelled with the Army.

After graduation, he took the West Point entrance exam.  He came in second on the exam and when the first-place entrant could not attend, Bradley accepted the appointment.

He graduated in 1915 from the Academy.  His class has been nicknamed "the class the stars fell on" because of the number of generals made from the graduating class.  The class included Dwight D. Eisenhower, who like Bro Bradley attained the rank of General of the Army.

He served during World War I, although he saw no combat, the armistice was signed before his unit was deployed.

During World War II Bro Bradley got his first front-line command in 1943.  He was sent to North Africa to work under Eisenhower revamping the troop deployments there.  Patton requested Bro Bradley come work for him in his efforts in North Africa as well.  Despite being part of Patton's command, he retained the right to represent Eisenhower in the theatre.

In 1944, he moved to London to take charge of the US First Army in preparation for the Normandy invasion.  After the landing, he was in charge of several operations including Operation Cobra.  The purpose of Operation Cobra was to break the German lines with a large number of smaller bombs so the craters did not impede the advance of the allies.  He was horrified when 77 of the bombers dropped their bombs short killing many of the allied troops.

At the Battle of the Bulge his command took the brunt of the initial battle.  When Eisenhower ordered some of his troops to move under the command of Field Marshal Montgomery a heated argument ensued between Bradley and Eisenhower.  The disagreement did not affect the two men's relationship though.

Bro Bradley gives his name to the Bradley Fighting Vehicle which was first introduced in 1981 and still in use today in Ukraine and other places. 

The Bradley was also the focus of a famous movie, The Pentagon Wars, about military procurement and the challenges of moving specifications and meeting everyone's expectations. 

Bro Bradley was Initiated into Freemasonry on the 23rd September 1923 joining West Point Lodge No.877 and Raised on the 15th November the same year.  He remained a member of the Lodge for his entire life and passed to the Grand Lodge Above on the 8th April 1981 aged 88 years old, he is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

U.S. Army M2 Bradley on display at Fort Irwin, California, in 2013

Resources:

Freemasons NZ.  Masonica 27 June 2026

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Bradley#

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Fighting_Vehicle

Images:

1. By Clarence Lamont MacNelly - http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/cg&csa/_notes/Omar%20N%20Bradley%20(B).jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4203919

2. By Sgt. Eric Garland - https://www.dvidshub.net/image/872826, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39981204