When you throw 5000 young men , most of whom are conscripts, into one big ass ship, things can be fairly unsettling. Its as if you are thrown into a giant mixing vat , and everything that you grew up with is being homogenized into into a new entity. Kinda like flour. Milk. Eggs .Baking powder. Beat well. Bake at 375. Voila. Biskits!
That was Jim And I. Even though we were total strangers until we became shipmates on the Coral Sea, one would never know that that afterwards. We had 5000 ship mates. But some of us were more like brothers than friends or shipmates.
Jim was lucky enough to have Pat. I reminded him often that i didn't know what he did to deserve her.
I guess it had to do with his heart. Cause he had a big one. We were always helping out our other friends like Sam Curtis , who got his wife to fly to meet Sam in Hong Kong. After Nanette got there , Sam had like three dollars to entertain her in Hong Kong. Jim and I raised enuf $ to allow Sam to show Nannette a good time. Even though neither of us had the money to do much else. Heart. Big heart. Friend. Brother. Shipmate.
He always kept up with as many shipmates as he could. He was like that.
After Hurricane Laura wiped out our retirement home in Grand Chenier, Jim sent assistance. Would not take no for an answer. He was bound and determined to help. Fifty years later he is still stepping up ! Jim is my friend. Thanks Buddy! Til we meet again.
Fair winds and following seas!!

Jim was a wonderful brother-in-law. I met him a few times early on but then got to know him better when Pat and Jim visited us in Den Haag. We had a wonderful visit touring N Europe and driving along the Rhine. I really got to know Jim after we moved to Texas and were only a few hours away. We also had many great visits on beautiful Walloon Lake.
Jim was a sincere and caring man. He was a straight shooter but easy to get along with. He loved his family deeply and will be deeply missed. Our love and prayers go out to all the Bradleys and all his family and friends.

Jim Bradley has always been in my life and in my family as I met him when he started dating my sister when I was just 6 years old. He was my first impression of what a boyfriend was supposed to be and it was a good one. Jim married Pat when Pat was just 20 years old and he took her off to a great adventure across the country from our small town Michigan all the way to San Francisco in their little Chevy Vega. They started out on this exciting trip on their wedding night and I remember Pat calling my parents not too far down the road crying and homesick! That was 46 1/2 years ago and there was lots of joy and laughing since then! Jim sure did have a big smile. And would he ever smile when he talked about his kids and later grandkids! I loved the enthusiam Jim had for his sons' activities when they were younger - for hockey and soccer and cross country running - he was definitely an enthusiatic and proud parent!  And Jim had this kind of crazy laugh when he was doing something he really enjoyed. I posted a picture with that big smile (and I can imagine the laugh) of him driving 100mph on the autobahn! (You'll need to open the picture to see the entire image.) Bill and I had a great trip with Pat and Jim down the Rhine River in 1993 and I remember Jim relishing his time in the biergarten along the river and the bier hall in Heidelberg. In more recent years, on my many stays with Pat and Jim at Hilltop, Jim introduced me to cooking shows! Who'd have thought this computer, info systems nerd would get into cooking and be good at it!  I will miss Jim as a brother, as an uncle to my children, and as a friend. I will miss his smile and crazy laugh and the devotion and love he showed to his family. 
God be with you Bradley family as you remember and grieve, as you honor Jim's memory, and as you laugh and love.

Our deepest condolences to Jim's family. We met Jim and Pat on cruise several years ago and greatly enjoyed our company together. So much so that we became "cruise buddies" and Jim & Pat joined us again on a cruise from Hawaii to Sydney Australia in late 2018. They loved to tell us about their grandchildren! We also occasionally played euchre on our trips. Give Pat a hug for us. God bless. Best, Mike & Rosanne

I have a vivid memory of Uncle Jim to share from many moons ago.

During Christmas 1999, our Michigan family road tripped to Texas. I remember heading north to Grapevine after spending Christmas in Houston. We stayed at Uncle Jim and Aunt Pat's house. Aunt Pat was overjoyed to have a trio of girls to love on for the holiday break, making sure we read The Boxcar Children together. Uncle Jim promptly showed us his pooping moose that deposited peanut M&M's into our hands.

At some point, Uncle Jim was tasked with setting up a Barbie sized soccer goalie net for my new gift, Mia Hamm the Barbie, complete with winning uniform and a kicking leg. Uncle Jim also explained Y2K to a then 10 year old Britney with great enthusiasm, as his day job involved computers. Everyone was legitimately worried that the computers wouldn't know how to handle the turn of the century date change and Uncle Jim told a very lively story. I was fairly convinced computers might actually have great difficulty with the quickly approaching year 2000. His eyes definitely sparkled at the telling of every tale.

He truly loved being a Papa to his grand-babies, an uncle to his nieces and nephews, and a loving father to my cousins Jeff and Jared.

See you later Uncle Jim, make sure to get out the candy Moose for all the new visitors to heaven.

Much love to the Bradley family.

I met Jim as a shipmate of the USS Coral Sea CVA 43 in 1972. We were both AIMD , aircraft support equipment technicians . We hit it off immediately, and became more like brothers than friends. Jim and Pat were great friends to this lonely kid, and were compassionate to a fault.
When we went to Hong Kong Our friend Sam Curtis had his wife meet us in poert there. Sam was a unique guy. Had no worries , no money , and no fear! There was his wife. Without even enough money to buy her a return ticket home nor a bowl of wonton soup. Jim and I pooled our cash to help Sam show Nannette a good time in Hong Kong. Never mind that we ourselves were then broke.
After Hurricane Laura in 2020, Jim asked about my losses in the hurricane. A little bit later , i got this big ol check in the mail. Jim and Pat just wanted to help out.
Character is sorthing you cant teach. You either have it or you dont. Jim had it.
Glad to have had the times together friend !