- My name is Michael Carter, and welcome to my wife Paulette and my cousins who attend regularly. My brother
- Steve couldn't make it. He has a real job, turns out. I left some sheets of paper on all the tables
- with the upcoming programs that you can share. Don't fight over them or anything. Of course, that's
- our schedule, barring cancellations. And we have those every once in a while. We just have to deal with it.
- They happened before, they'll happen again. Many thanks to the American Legion for allowing us to have
- these programs. We've been partners in preserving local history for 13 years now. And thanks so much
- for the wait staff and the kitchen staff who do a great job every time. It's great that we have such
- good people to serve us. Unfortunately, this will be the last day for Brooke to be here.
- She's been with us several years, and she especially takes care of us old guys every Tuesday we get
- together. So the thing is, she works at her sister's restaurant, Busy Bee Cafe in Spencer, so you might
- pay her a visit there. And I'd like to thank Catch TV and Dave, hi Dave, for recording our programs
- for the last 10 years, over 10 years.
- And we have like 110 of these on YouTube, which is kind of cool. It's a very important service. It allows
- us to upload each program to YouTube for people who can't make it to the live programs. In addition,
- it allows us to preserve our local history for future generations to enjoy. And also, our local history
- enthusiasts who attend these programs are great. We really appreciate your support.
- A lot of diverse programs over the years. Look them up on YouTube. You gotta do as good on the YouTube
- channel and put in my Monroe County History Club and they all come up. How many new attendees? I think
- I see some new faces here. Any new ones? Maybe not. So some people want to give me their email addresses
- and to get direct mailings.
- instead of finding out on social media. And if you want to give me that, I can give that to Steve Brewer,
- who helps us, and George Carpenter will see to it that it's good on our list. Also, first, Daniel Schlegel
- of the History Center. I'd like to say a few words.
- Good afternoon everybody. I just want to give a warm round of applause for Michael and all of his hard
- work with this. We are so lucky at the History Center to have Michael on our board and he is always
- a hard worker and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate his attention to detail. I'm more big picture
- and he's more detail so
- It's easy to work with him because we complement each other. So I just wanted to let you know a couple
- of things going on at the History Center. We have an exhibit up called Join or Die about any Revolutionary
- War era veterans that after the war, they moved west all the way west to Indiana at the time.
- And so we have a lot of different information. Some of it is new. There were some unknown vets that
- weren't posted in other places before. So we did a lot of research and so we have an exhibit about them,
- including the Brewster Sisters and their work in Virginia. So please make sure to come out and see that
- exhibit. We even have a Revolutionary War era game you can play that's on display there as well.
- So come out, see the exhibit, do that.
- For the Showers Brothers family, we have an exhibit up. It's a choose your own adventure style. So you're
- able to go through and follow either the factory or the family. And it kind of walks you through how
- our curators decide what and how much to put into exhibits. And then you can help create your own little
- exhibit label at the very end about one of the Showers Brothers chairs.
- So make sure to come out and see both of those. We have a lot of different exhibits that are changing
- and rotating. So that way it's not the same thing every time you come out. We always have something
- new and different on display. And then before I forget, we also have our garage sale coming up in June.
- I have a lot of these quarter sheets. So if everyone takes a few or if you know places, you want to
- hand them out or post them, we would love that. The garage sale ladies are very much hard at work right now.
- Organizing, cataloging, cleaning, pricing, they do a lot, a lot of behind the scenes work. So if you
- have a spring cleaning project you're doing, please consider us. All the donation details are on here.
- They do pickups. And then you can also drop it off if you're out running errands on a Wednesday. So
- feel free to come over and see me. I have all kinds of books out this time. And hopefully we'll see
- you out at the History Center. And then we have, here he is.
- David Nord, our county historian, we're very excited to be partnering with him about some of our upcoming
- programming related to America 250. So David's gonna come up and say a few words about two talks and
- programs that he's involved with. So here's our county historian, David Nord. Well thank you. It's good
- to see you all and I have been involved in the 250th
- anniversary of the declaration here in the county. In fact, I've been involved with it so closely that
- I learned how to spell semi-quincentennial. It took me a little while, but I mastered it. And before
- I got involved with local history, I was a historian at IU with a specialty in journalism history and
- the history of publishing and the history of reading and readership.
- And I did a lot of work at that time on the late 18th publishing in the late 18th and early 19th century.
- So though now I'm doing Monroe County stuff, this semi-quincentennial has sent me back to my old ways.
- And I've organized two talks at the History Center beginning in April and then in May that I'd like
- to invite you to come to. They're kind of a pair, one of them
- is by me and the other is by Amy Ransford, who's affiliated with the history department and a PhD from
- the history department, and years ago actually was my student for her MA thesis. And she and I will
- be giving talks. And the pair works like this. I'm going to be talking about the new system of the colonies during
- war, particularly focusing on the lead-up to the Declaration of Independence. So my presentation is
- called Connecting the Thirteen Colonies, the Declaration of Independence in the New System
- of Eighteenth-Century America, and her talk is called Beyond the Thirteen Colonies, the Declaration
- of Independence in the Political and Social Context of Vast Eighteenth-Century America. So mine is
- is about printing, publishing, postal service, and so forth within the colonies that were in rebellion.
- Hers is more about how the revolution played out in the West, Western Pennsylvania, New York, and even
- into the Ohio country. There's also another one, a third one, of some of us IU folks that's aimed at
- a local audience like you folks that will be here
- And I don't have that written down, but it's on your list. But Con Durks from the history department
- will be talking about George Rogers Clark and the Revolution in Indiana, Illinois and Indiana country
- in 1779. So. David, what were the dates of the history department? May. May. It's the May.
- It's the May 1. There's a handout that you can, if you want more information about this, you can pick
- this up down at
- Daniel's desk down here. Everything he's got down there, he wants you to sell it to you. But this is
- free. So we hope. My talk, I didn't even tell you when these were. Mine is in April. It's April 21st,
- 24th, 24th, 24th, which is Friday. And it's at 7 PM. And Amy's is May 8th.
- at 7 p.m., another Friday. So they're two weeks apart, and I think that they're a nice pair. So we hope
- you are interested in coming to water both of them. Thank you. All right. Thanks, David. And now to
- today's program. I can't think of a more appropriate program to be given at the Legion than the one
- we're about to give here about Bruce Schaeffer.
- I mean, we all were either related to or knew somebody that was in Vietnam. In fact, one of my old friends
- here was in Vietnam, Clay Stuckey, was in Vietnam, Navy veteran. Are there any other Vietnam veterans
- here? There's one. OK, a couple. So yeah, thanks for your service. So yeah. So John Summerlott.
- local historians is going to tell you a lot about Bruce Schaefer, who's a true hero. So John. And I'll
- take a couple minutes to take some pictures and I'll turn the lights down. Just a couple minutes.
- All right. So a couple things. One quick thing I'll put out there before we begin. It's a little bit
- unrelated to today's talk. As some of you all may know, I am a huge history nerd.
- I do a lot of history research on various things.
- I'm on the board for the History Center. I do regular work at the archives, often at Dina's request,
- about various topics. And I'm part of the Civil War Roundtable and some other groups. And one of my
- big challenges, particularly the 250th coming up and all the different campus and community celebrations,
- is keeping track of everything. All of these dates, all of these history events, all of these things
- that are happening. So I decided to learn how to build a website. And I have built a website.
- And so if you go to MC, as in Monroe County, mchistorytalk.org, you will find every upcoming American
- history program, local history, US history program that I can find that is happening within Monroe County,
- the campus, the university, the history center, the history club, as many of them as I can get on there.
- And if you see that I have missed one,
- There's a form at the bottom where you can submit it to me so that I can put it on there. So please
- do. But that's my effort to just kind of coordinate things and help folks out. Because my problem became
- very quickly that I could not remember. Somebody said they were going to do a program on that. I cannot
- remember where. And now I have one resource for all of the history stuff that I'm involved in. MC, as
- in Monroe County, mchistorytalk.org.
- And I will do my best to, at least on a weekly basis, get it updated and get it put out there. Oh, I've
- set my clicker down somewhere. It is over. So a little background about this presentation. And I'll
- get into this a little bit more. But about five years ago, right before the start of COVID,
- I got approached by Bruce's widow about Bruce and about his story. And she basically said, hey, I think
- there's a story here. I'm not sure what it is. And I'm not sure who would want to know it. I'm not sure
- how to tell it. But I asked around a bunch of people and they kept pointing me at you.
- And I was like, okay, well, we'll see where that goes. And so as we go through this today, I want you
- to know a little background on the fact that we spent about five years, I spent about five years working
- with Maggie and some of Bruce's family on this story. And what does this, what's the story we're telling
- and why and how does that matter?
- I will also point out, because I know that some folks have asked questions when they saw it on the list
- of upcoming programs, you know, how am I qualified to talk about something like this? Not necessarily
- in a history sense, but if we're going to talk about tragedies, tragic loss, and the challenges of PTSD
- and some of those sort of combat traumas. So a little bit about me. So I've spent over 20 years in the
- military. I also have a counseling degree, and I have spent a lot of my
- rest of my civilian life, very often working with veterans. I come from a family of veterans. My family
- has served in every war since the Revolution. My grandfather was a World War II vet. My dad was a Vietnam
- vet. I've grown up in the environment of living and working with veterans in my family and elsewhere.
- And so along with a counseling degree and a lot of experience, that's kind of where I'm coming from
- with this, but I am at its core a historian.
- So there's not a whole lot of psychological things that I'm going to talk about here, but I am going
- to talk a little bit about the impact of war, the impact of being in a combat zone, being shot at, being
- asked to take the lives of others, and how does that sort of impact folks in the long run. And at the
- end, as you may already know from the title, there's a tragic ending here. And at some point, I think
- Michael's going to stop asking me to come to these because I'm always coming with tragedies and horrible
- stories about things that happen.
- This is a tough one and that may not be an easy time for everybody and I understand that and I'll do
- my best to sort of give you a clue and a heads up as to when it is that that's coming. So a little bit
- about Bruce as we go forward here. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on Bruce's life here in Bloomington
- in part because I've already talked to at least 10 people that knew Bruce that are in this room today
- who knew him from his time here in Bloomington.
- Bruce was here in Bloomington because his dad was the dean of students at IU, Bob Schaefer, a long time
- dean of students and faculty member at the university. And his brother, Jim, was also a student here.
- Both of them went to university high school and graduated from there. And Bruce was even the class president
- when he was there. And so he was fairly well known to a lot of folks in the local community.
- After that, many of them sort of lost track of him after he graduated and went to Earlham, where he
- became a student and became involved as a student leader there. Didn't change any. He'd been class president
- in high school. He went on to be involved in the Earlham student government body and really became an
- outspoken sort of critic for reform within their student body. And it was in that student body that
- he met Margaret, who would eventually become his wife.
- there at Earlham. She's from Washington DC. She currently lives in Fort Wayne and may show up here yet
- today. She was having a little bit of car trouble this morning and wasn't entirely sure she would make
- it, but hopefully she's going to make it here before this is over.
- So Bruce was at Earlham for about two and a half years, and he decided that maybe college wasn't the
- thing he wanted to do. And this pans out in some of the letters and things that he writes from Vietnam
- about this sort of trying to decide what he wants to do with his life. But as it was in the 1960s,
- late 1960s, oh, I forgot to add, this is my favorite random photo.
- of Bruce. So the entire context I have for this is Bruce Lost Valley Ranch, Spring 1965. I have no idea.
- This was a spring break trip, I'm assuming. I know the family often went out west for spring break trips.
- And so this is Bruce riding a bull on a spring break trip in 65, as far as I can tell. So I'll come
- back to why I have some pictures with no context and some of the other things that sort of go along
- with this.
- But as happens when you drop out of school in the late 1960s, he was immediately sent a draft notice
- by the Earlholm Registrar's Office that he would be drafted. Now, at that point, Bruce knew enough that
- he had some college in and some other things. He knew that he would probably be eligible to be a warrant
- officer and probably be eligible to be a helicopter pilot, which is what he wanted to do after that.
- So he signed up, joined the army as enlisted. And one of my favorite tidbits is he had to fill out his
- criminal record form. And so these are all of the high crimes and misdemeanors that Bruce had been convicted
- of, which you'll notice is a parking violation in April of 67 here in Bloomington, Indiana, which cost
- him $1 for that parking violation, right? So all of the...
- Yeah, they've gone up a little. It cost you a dollar just to get a spot now, let alone get the fine.
- So, but Bruce joined the Army. He went to boot camp at Fort Polk and graduated from there and was selected
- for the Warren officer program. And he was sent to Hunter Army Air Force Base in Georgia. And then to,
- and now I'm going to space the name on it, a place in Texas where he finished out his helicopter pilot
- training before
- married Maggie. And so about three weeks before going to Vietnam, Bruce married Maggie in Washington, D.C.,
- which is where she was from, and they spent a little bit of time together before he shipped out. Much
- of the rest of what I'm going to talk to you about comes from information Maggie and the family has
- provided to me. So as I said, about five years ago, Maggie showed up at my office with
- five bankers boxes and a couple of other things full of records and documents and all of this. It literally
- was everything from Bruce's baby book all the way through the investigation of his death in Vietnam
- and the VA records after that. So all of Bruce's life was sort of within these five boxes and it was
- not organized in any way, shape or form. Things were kind of scattered all over the place. So I had
- some help from some colleagues.
- Jake Hagstrom, who was a doctoral student in history, partnered and under the guidance of Dina Kellums
- from the IU Archives, we went through and sort of figured out how to organize these and what would be
- the best way to preserve them. Many of them were letters still folded up in envelopes and they needed
- to be gently unfolded and laid out so that they would be preserved. Photographs, what do we do with
- these photographs? How do we, and many of them were starting to curl and warp. And so we wanted to preserve
- them as best we could
- I'm also eternally grateful to Ron Osgood, who is a faculty emeritus from media school at IU, a Vietnam
- veteran, and a documentary filmmaker. There were also some recordings that were in there, and he was
- able to get some of those recordings digitized so that I was able to listen to them. And slides. I don't
- know if you all know how hard it is to find a slide projector nowadays. Okay?
- I'm going to remember that. If you've got one, I'm going to remember that. Bruce bought a camera when
- he was in Vietnam and took a lot of photographs. And many of them were developed as slides. And so being
- able to look at those in a timely manner and sort through them, Ron was a great resource for helping
- with that. Well, almost all of the rest of the pictures that you are going to see today are Bruce's
- actual photos from Vietnam.
- I don't necessarily have context for all of them. And many of them are generically my barracks I lived
- in or helicopter flying overhead, right? But these are the photos that Bruce took while he was there.
- So unlike many of my previous presentations, this one's gonna require a lot of reading because what
- I have discovered or what I believe is that the best way to tell Bruce's story is through his own words.
- So what I'm going to read to you are letters that Bruce wrote to Maggie. If there's a case where it
- was not Bruce writing, I will tell you who it is that wrote it or why. There's a couple of places where
- a friend of his wrote something or he wrote to a friend instead of Maggie. There's a couple of government
- document citations that I'll put in here. But much of what I'm going to be reading to you is Bruce's
- actual words. Dear wife,
- This being my first opportunity to use the term in a letter, the idea appealed to me. We are somewhere
- over the Pacific on a TWA 707. We have been on the plane for 11 and a half hours and have about nine
- more to go. We refueled in Hawaii, which is where I picked up this paper. Unfortunately, we were only
- on the ground 40 minutes, so I didn't get to see much. They say we are three hours away from Okinawa.
- From there, we go on to Vietnam.
- I don't know where we go after that. We left Oakland at 2 a.m. on July 8th, but the time change and
- the dateline have me sufficiently confused so that I don't actually know what day or hour it is or when
- we will finally get there. If you've ever flown across the ocean, you've probably felt that once or
- twice. And that was July 8th of 1968. July 14th. It was a rather circuitous trip, but here I am, a combat veteran,
- There's a small map in the lower corner of the letter. And he says, and I'm going to apologize for messing
- up the names of these locations. I know my dad tried very hard to get me to be able to say all of the
- Vietnam locations correctly, and I will not. And he will be disappointed when he watches this video.
- So I went from Binh Ha to Long Bien, back to Binh Ha, then by air to Da Nang, then via Nha Trang,
- Wuinan, and then Chulai. After two days at Da Nang, I went back to Chulai, and here is now home. The
- travels were a result of sifting down from the 90th Replacement Detachment to the headquarters of the
- 15th Combat Aviation Group of the 1st Aviation Brigade, from there to the 14th Combat Aviation Battalion,
- from there to the 176th Assault Helicopter Company, to the 14th Battalion Support of the Americal Division.
- Now, for everybody else that was like, that made no sense whatsoever, all of the military folks in the
- room were like, eh, sounds normal. Yeah, no checks, right? 17 July. I have now accrued 28 flying hours,
- three days of work.
- I am not flying today, so I finally have a chance to get my letters written. The flying has not been
- too difficult, but the company I am in has a reputation for doing a lot of flying. You may recall that
- I said 100 hours a month is about the average. Almost everyone in the 176th has gotten over 140 hours
- in the last 30 days. Some of them are up to 160, and one guy has over 180. Today was a fairly light
- day in terms of mission assignments.
- Now remember that number, 100 hours a month was the standard that a helicopter pilot was supposed to
- fly. And we'll come back to that later. I was given the time to get squared away in the bachelor officer's
- quarters. We're all bachelors over here. The day before yesterday, I saw what could be called my first
- actual combat action. We were on a single ship recon mission carrying an infantry company commander.
- We spotted a VC suspect riding a bicycle along some rice paddy roads carrying a large bundle. We made
- a very low pass over him and the gunner dropped smoke on him. That is a smoke grenade. That really scared
- him and he dropped his bicycle and load and ran into a group of huts. The commander radioed one of his
- squads to investigate the area.
- While we were waiting in the area for the squad to arrive, we spotted three, quote, military-aged males
- crossing some paddies. Evidently, the area we were in is predominantly VC, so all military-aged males
- are strongly suspect. The three were moving toward a tree line. We made several passes over them.
- Each time, they pretended to be working in the field while we were flying towards them, but as soon
- as we passed, they started to run. When we came over them the third time, they were fairly close to
- the tree line.
- and made a break for it. As soon as they broke, the aircraft commander, the AC, told the gunner and
- crew chief to open fire. They broke up and dove for the trees. The crew chief killed one with the first
- burst, but the other two managed to hide. Then the aircraft commander told me to take over the controls
- and hover around the tree line. We were about 30 feet up.
- I took it and the aircraft commander started firing a 40 millimeter grenade launcher out his window
- with the gunner directing his fire with tracers. Soon the ground squad arrived and started searching
- in the bush. They found the dead one, then they flanked out the other two, one of whom had been wounded
- by the AC's grenade launcher. We loaded the squad and the two VC in the ship and dropped them off at
- a POW camp.
- The ground commander was very pleased and told the battalion operations officer to put us in for a citation,
- but the aircraft commander had him cancel it because he would have gotten in trouble for firing the
- grenade launcher out of the window. Pilots aren't even supposed to have grenade launchers. I still haven't
- sorted out my reaction to the action. I don't understand how they knew the three were VC. They were
- unarmed and weren't carrying any military articles.
- I will understand how they knew after I have been here for a while. It all seemed very circumstantial.
- The biggest puzzle to me is the significance of the AC's order to get them. Don't let them get away."
- As I read these letters, I'll also point out I am greatly condensing some of the material that's in them.
- writes home and he talks to Maggie about music and politics and stereos and all of these other sort
- of normal routine things. I'm not sort of going through all those. I'm more following a thread here
- of what his reaction to combat is. July 25th. Since my first letter, I have been shot at daily. But
- remember that there are degrees of seriousness in being shot at. Today, for example, a very ambitious
- sniper tried to shoot us down with a light automatic weapon.
- I say ambitious because we were well out of range, so there was nothing to worry about. Several days
- ago, however, to the other extreme, I was flying with the same AC that had the grenade launcher. We
- were trying to spot what we thought was a VC squad, which had killed an American and wounded two others
- in light contact. After evacuating the injured, we spent the next two hours dropping smoke grenades
- to mark positions and directing artillery.
- But the more fire we put in the area, the more fire we received on making passes at about 200 feet.
- Finally, it got so hot we had to call in gunships. The guns uncovered the real thing, two 50 caliber
- machine guns and numerous automatic weapons. One of the gunships was so badly damaged by the 50 cal
- that we had to set it, pilot had to set it down and get a chinook to carry it out.
- We called in four airstrikes and adjusted five hours of artillery fire on the area just for the record.
- The 50s are death for helicopters because the bullet can go through anything and because they have an
- effective range high enough to hit us in the air. While they didn't open up on us while we were low,
- slow, and alone is beyond me, unless they just didn't want to give away their position.
- All the while we were carrying an infantry battalion commander who was responsible for the particular
- area we were in. I have flown for the same man since and he told me that he put both the aircraft commander
- and me in for accommodation. Although it is hard to say if anything will come of it. General order number
- 6936. The following award is announced, 19 July 1968.
- heroism while engaged in aerial flight in connection with military operations against a hostile force.
- A friendly soldier was seriously wounded and required helicopter evacuation. Warrant officer Schaefer
- courageously flew into the precarious landing zone and extracted the wounded man.
- After delivering the patient to safety, he returned to the scene of contact to assist in locating the
- enemy forces. Swooping low over the suspected enemy location, he daringly baited the enemy into firing
- at his helicopter in order to pinpoint their gun locations. Upon receiving enemy automatic weapons fire
- from two locations, he again flew low over the target area to drop colored smoke grenades on the enemy
- positions, thus marking them for tactical airstrikes and directly bringing about their destruction.
- He continued to fly dangerously low, drawing automatic fire from three gun positions previously unknown.
- Again, he flew into the fire to mark the newly discovered gun points with smoke. Although his aircraft
- had taken a hit early in the action, he continued to circle the area as targets were destroyed by tactical
- airstrikes. That was his first award of the Air Medal for heroism two weeks into his time in Vietnam.
- same letter. One pervading thought which I suppose is to be expected is the desire to kill gooks. The
- enthusiasm of the mission is an absorbing passion. Everyone wants to do the assigned job as well as
- possible. It's sort of like fishing with respect to the, with the killing though. After spending all
- day sitting on a boat, you would really like to catch a fish. You can tell that a few of the people
- here are really scared of
- really scared of dying and being shot down. Admittedly, the prospect of going down in the mountains
- is not pleasant. I choose not to worry about it. I carry a 38 special as a personal weapon, which may
- be reassuring, but in jungle warfare, it leaves quite a bit to be desired. September 7th. It's strange
- the things you can get used to. I seldom jump now when artillery shakes the floor.
- I can almost find comfort in the general monotony of thoughts and words. I listened to Simon and Garfunkel
- last night. It started me thinking again. When you fly, 100% of your attention is devoted to flying.
- But when you just sit, your mind wonders. September 19th. Last night I was playing bridge. I've been
- playing quite a bit this last week.
- when one of the aircraft commanders came in saying he needed a pilot to go on an emergency ammunition
- resupply, about 15 miles west of Tamki. I had my boots on, so I told him that I would go. Emergency
- ammo resupplies tend to be hairy, but at night, they are guaranteed to be a good scare time. Given that
- this type of mission is hairy to begin with, it was fairly routine, and we were done by about 1130 PM.
- We then found out the most unusual part of the mission was that the commanding general of the Americal
- Infantry Division had been monitoring our radios the whole time, and that he wanted us to land at the
- Americal VIP pad where he would meet us. Once there, the general, a two-star, gave us all medals and
- many pats on the back. The two aircraft commanders were given distinguished flying crosses, and the
- pilots were given air medals for valor. Quite a few pictures were taken,
- If I even get a hold of one, I will send it to you. As far as we were concerned, the action was fairly
- routine, but if the general thought it was worth a distinguished flying cross, I know a number of actions
- which deserve at least a silver star, which have gone unrecognized. The following award is announced,
- 17 September 1968, aka the Army's version of the rather routine mission that Bruce was on.
- For heroism, while participating in aerial flight in the Republic of Vietnam, War and Officer Schaeffer
- distinguished himself by valorous actions on 17 September 1968 while serving as pilot of a UH-1H helicopter
- with 176th Assault Helicopter Company. On that date, he was flying in support of an infantry company
- that was conducting a sweep and clear operation 15 miles southwest of Tam Ky. An estimated regiment
- of North Vietnamese regulars were known to be in the area.
- Late that afternoon, elements of the company made contact with a large enemy force. The situation continued
- to deteriorate over the course of the evening. The company was surrounded and under heavy attack. After
- several hours of heavy fighting, the company reported a critical ammunition shortage and requested resupply.
- Receiving word of the situation, Warrant Officer Schaeffer volunteered to fly the mission.
- Two lift ships, two gunships, and a flare ship were dispatched to relieve the besieged company.
- Throughout the evening, Warrne Officer Schaeffer assisted in the difficult navigation and in monitoring
- the overburdened radio nets. Arriving at the area, he repeatedly exposed himself to the intense hostile
- fire as he assisted in spotting a landing zone and in maintaining clearance during the approach and
- takeoff. Warrne Officer Schaeffer's personal heroism, professional competence, and devotion to duty
- are keeping with the highest traditions of the military service. Award of the Air Medal.
- from one of Bruce's fellow pilots. The 176th was one of the finest records of any unit in Vietnam. This
- is due to the attitude that is passed down from the old guys to the new guys in the company. It's based
- on the unit's traditions and outstanding accomplishments. Bruce was one of the extremely few people
- I have ever seen who was able to improve the Minuteman reputation as superior as it already was. He
- was a fine officer, the best aircraft commander, and a great person.
- from another warrant officer that Bruce served with. I could give you a list of several hundred names
- who thought of Bruce as their hero. It would include grunts who were out of ammo and who would have
- been killed if Bruce hadn't volunteered to fly the mission. It would include wounded and sick people
- who wouldn't have made it if Bruce hadn't made the extra effort to save their lives. Minuteman 17 was
- his call sign. Everybody knew who it was. Every enlisted crew member in the company wanted to fly with
- him whenever possible.
- A new pilot could count on learning more in one day flying with Bruce than in a week of flying with
- most people. Combat flying is different than anything else you will ever do. Flying itself is not the
- safest thing. Flying a lot of hours is a little more dangerous. Flying aircraft that can't always obtain
- the proper maintenance is hazardous. Put it all in a combat environment and at best your odds are about
- 50-50. Bruce flew more dangerous missions than anyone.
- The write-up you should have received on a Silver Star was typically Bruce. It just happened that a
- general heard about that one. It was easily the 10th time he had done something worthy of a Silver Star.
- He was the best. September 29th, Bruce DeMagge. I made aircraft commander yesterday. They decided to
- waive the three-month in-country requirement. I am now Minuteman 17.
- I haven't been assigned an aircraft yet, but I have one in mind I would like. Being an aircraft commander
- is really quite a bit of responsibility considering that the aircraft, the crew, and everything carried
- in the aircraft is on your shoulders. And of course, there are Army regulations. If every regulation
- about flying was adhered to, we could never get the job done. Many times we would never even get off
- the ground. So people turn their backs and the job gets done. But if anything happens,
- or one, usually several, of the Army regulations as being disregarded, the aircraft commander must take
- responsibility, even if the accident is caused by mechanical failure and not the pilot error, and say
- that it had a couple hundred pounds too much cargo or one of the troops didn't have his sleeves rolled
- down, the aircraft commander is responsible up to and including financially for the lost cargo or the
- injury. All in all, it makes it rough. You have to do it to get the job done
- but you stick your neck out when you do. That is the Army. October 28th. Sorry, it's been so long in
- writing. I appreciated your bringing me up on your activities. My activities have been somewhat limited.
- I fly a lot. Several days ago, I set sort of an unofficial company record by having two aircraft shot
- out from under me in the same day.
- They weren't shot down as such, just shot up to the extent that I couldn't fly them anymore. If I was
- a dissatisfied youth last year, God knows what my category will be next year. The more I see of Vietnam,
- the more disgusted I am with the war, and the more I read about the elections, the more disgusted I
- am with the American people. There is no justice in this war.
- Anyone who thinks our actions over here can be justified is either too ignorant to know wrong from right,
- or he has never seen what is going on. I find satisfaction in doing difficult things, going into areas
- you're not supposed to be able to get into, and in coming back when they don't think that you will.
- The only mission per se I find satisfying is medical evacuation.
- So I want you to keep those last two lines in mind. One is how his attitude towards the war itself is
- starting to change, but also the part about medical evacuations. What they say about Pot, this is a
- letter to a friend of his, what they say about Pot in Vietnam is largely true. I have been staying high
- quite a bit in the evenings. Donovan, Simon and Garfunkel, mamas and the papas, it's a good escape from
- what goes on during the day.
- A deck, about 10 joints, goes for about a dollar. I would like to get some home, but I'm not too anxious
- to get court-martialed. November 14th. So far, I have won over $150 playing bridge. I have been playing
- two or three nights a week for a half cent per point. The money will go for the stereo system. He was
- very big on saving up for a stereo system. That was one of his
- ongoing goals that he had. Realized I forgot to advance my slides. So December 29th. I'm sitting on
- a bench behind our hooch. Just as I looked up from reading your letter, Simon and Garfunkel started
- playing somewhere. It was a strange moment. The small piece of paper I was holding was real.
- Where I was, what I saw, my clothes, and how I got here were all unreal.
- a scene badly written in which I must play. It is the unreality which keeps me going. The moments which
- bother me most are the ones when my surroundings seem real. I'm afraid I have gotten a reputation for
- doing things other people wouldn't do. It's because it isn't real. Someone will tell me, don't do that.
- It's asking for trouble. I tell them nothing will happen. It's a bad dream. You can wake up when nothing
- happens. When I get home, I will wake up.
- What will have seemed an eternity will be last night. I will kiss you and life will continue, but I
- will wonder what sort of nightmare it could have been to leave me feeling this haunted. Three days later.
- What was I saying? Unreality? On December 31st at approximately 840 AM, things became very real for
- about 15 or 20 seconds. You might say something happened.
- Have I ever told you about sniffer missions? Right now, it's a little complex for a letter. Let's call
- it a very low level, 10 feet off the ground reconnaissance mission. The day before yesterday, I had
- a sniffy mission, the first thing in the morning. It was the first sniffer mission I had had for about
- a month. I've always liked the sniffer missions because I like to fly really low. I flew lead.
- out to the objective area. I descended to start the sniffer run, which I tried to fly as close to the
- ground as possible. I had only been low level for a few minutes when my world turned to shit. I came
- over the top of the ridge line about 90 miles an hour and we got a very strong sniffer reading and received
- heavy automatic weapons fire simultaneously. I went down the side of the cliff in a steep right bank
- I thought we were okay for a few seconds, but then I lost my cyclical controls. The aircraft tried to
- go inverted. With every ounce of energy, I managed to roll the aircraft level, but then I had to pull
- in power to keep from hitting the other side of the valley. It was then I realized I didn't have a tail
- rotor either. The aircraft commander of the chase ship was flying 1,500 feet above me. There's always
- a chase ship.
- He told me he saw my tail rotor disintegrate just as we came over the top of the ridge. Without a tail
- rotor, a helicopter tends to spin to the right. I did everything I could to straighten us out, but without
- effect. From then on, all I could do was try and keep us from going inverted, which I managed to do.
- We came over to the top of the ridge at about 10 feet, going down the side of the cliff, had about 50
- feet. When I lost my cyclical, about 150 feet later, we started to spin.
- The last thing I was able to do was to aim us towards our trees on the side of the cliff rather than
- in the clearing at the bottom of the valley. If we had hit in the clearing, I would not have been able
- to write this letter. In short, we went into the side of the cliff in a tight right spiral. We spun
- around a few times after we hit. We flipped over on our back and then spun around a few more times before
- we came to a rest. Even though we were upside down, I was able to shut off the engine before we caught fire.
- But even so, the aircraft was totally destroyed. I went out through the greenhouse window in the top
- of the cockpit. The crash was what they call very bad. He underlines it. That my crew, my passengers,
- two of them, and I are alive is what we are exceptionally fortunate. That we are, for the most part,
- unharmed is a miracle. We were all banged around quite a bit. My gunner got a crushed thumb. And I have
- a number of cuts on the right side of my head
- of my mouth and my jaw, but no permanent damage was done to any of us. Everyone in the company, including
- the company commander is satisfied that I did a quote, utterly outstanding job of getting the aircraft
- down without killing anyone. But because I was flying so low and because there were no witnesses who
- can actually say what happened, the battalion commander is conducting a board of inquiry to determine
- if it was pilot error. So far, all of the board has decided that beyond any reasonable doubt,
- I lost my tail rotor before I hit the ground. If the board wants to call it pilot error, they can.
- If they do, I will probably lose my status as aircraft commander. I believe I was shot down and so does
- the company. In any case, I am alive and no one is dead because of me. So I really don't care about
- what the board decides. The doctor grounded me both yesterday and today. He said I would be too stiff
- to move around much.
- And he was right. This afternoon, I told him how much better I was, so he said I could go back to flying
- tomorrow. My mission is in the same area where we were shot down, and I'd like to take a look around.
- I would like to find a few pieces of my tail rotor to give the Board of Inquiry, although the jungle
- is a little thick and it may be hard to find. January 8th. The Board of Inquiry has concluded that I
- was shot down!
- None of my tail rotor or gearbox has been recovered, but I guess it doesn't make any difference now.
- But if I ever find a Vietnamese with a Zippo lighter that says Minuteman 17 on it, I just may kill him.
- I've been flying regularly, as regularly as I was before, since the third. And on the third, I did go
- back into the same area. The battalion commander who controls that area is, I consider, one of my friends.
- When he had heard that I was shot down in the area, he was really mad, so I was flying for him on the
- third. We took some troops to the base of the hill where I went down, and he instructed them to look
- for anything that may have been a part of a helicopter. It felt a little strange going over the same
- ridge line and coming out over the same valley, but it was something I had to do, just like getting
- back onto the horse which threw you. On the fourth, however,
- My nerves really took a setback. The weather was very bad that day, so most of the flying was done low
- level. I was at the treetops going between two support bases when I had a complete hydraulic failure.
- All of the controls on the Huey are hydraulically actuated. We were loaded down pretty well, but I was
- able to make a running landing on a small fixed wing strip with no further problems, except for a case
- of the shakes. You might say my luck hasn't been the greatest lately,
- Now every time I hit some turbulence, my heart quits beating. I start checking to see if I still have
- a tail rotor. I still have all of my controls, et cetera, et cetera. It's the first time in any letter
- that Bruce talks about being nervous when flying.
- through all of school, through all of training, everything that he's done. This is the first time that
- he talks about, hey, you know, getting shot at's not so bad, but that hydraulic thing going out, whoa,
- you know, like, this is the first time it's about him and about his nerves starting to frazzle a bit.
- February 1st. This last month has been a very bad one for me and has caused changes in my attitude about
- this war. The changes started several weeks ago when I got involved in a search for a downed aircraft
- The weather was extremely bad and the only reason I was flying is because I thought I might be able
- to save someone's life. After several hours of search, we found the aircraft. I was the first aircraft
- there and I was the first person to get to the bodies. It was not very pleasant. The NVA had evidently
- captured the three people on the aircraft after the pilot had made a forced landing. The aircraft was
- burned two hours after it had gone down. The occupants had been tortured, then killed.
- I've been involved in a war crimes investigation since the incident. It is a, quote, official atrocity,
- but I don't know what good it will do. Since about January 10th, I have seen more Americans killed.
- I have carried more bodies and I have made more emergency medevacs and I have seen more NVA and VC just
- walk away from the area than all of the rest of the time I have been here. It's very difficult to say
- what this has done to me. I do not like seeing people get their legs blown off.
- Yesterday I had blood splattered all over the inside of my airplane, the windshield instrument radios,
- my helmet, while I was taking four men out to the hospital ship. I can't think of anything that can
- make that worthwhile. Not the blood, I'm talking about the people. Nothing is worth wasting life like
- we are. We have a disjointed idea of how to fight wars.
- February 23rd, yesterday was quiet, a day off, all the way around. I flew three combat assaults and
- took a couple of hits in my tail rotor. So this is, you know, the average day. It was quite a day all
- the way around. I flew on three combat assaults, took a couple of hits in my tail rotor, logged 11 hours
- and 10 minutes during the day, then got another hour and 30 minutes dropping flares at night. So 12
- hours of flying in a day.
- Four people in the company were killed. Evidently, they were shot down and burned in the crash. I only
- knew the gunner slightly, but the other three were my friends. It's really rough, particularly about
- Mac. I had known him the longest, and we had found out about it a little while ago. I'm afraid it's
- really going to be grim around here for the next few days. I suppose we were fortunate to go this long
- without losing anyone. Ford only had nine days left before he went home.
- I'll ride again soon. Right now, I think I will go down to the beach. I can't stand watching people
- pack up their belongings. February 26, the biggest change which has come over me within the last month,
- this is since the crash. The biggest change that has come over me within the last month and a half is
- that I now kill people without reservation. It's very hard to explain how something so drastic has happened.
- It is primarily a result of seeing so many Americans absolutely ruined and seeing so many bad guys get
- away. This entire struggle, the politics of it, isn't worth two American legs. Yet there are so many
- people, both over here and in the States, who are content to play war, casually accepting that people
- get killed and yet reluctant to take the necessary steps to destroy the enemy. The more bad guys I kill,
- the less people there are who will kill Americans.
- When I don't find them with a regular mission type of flying, I go out and look for them. I don't think
- I like to kill, but it gives me a feeling of establishing equilibrium. And whenever I get American blood
- on my ship, the equilibrium is lost. Perhaps a more rational or a more stable person would find a better
- way to cope with the situation. We'll come back to that. The way I am working now is not something I
- have decided to do. It is just the way it is.
- So putting on my counseling hat for a second. What we know today in the military world when it comes
- to prolonged combat, when it comes to stress, when it comes to these sort of situations, we have a number
- of names and types that we do. You're probably familiar with the phrase PTSD, post-traumatic stress
- disorder. One type of post-traumatic stress disorder that comes up regularly is something called moral injury.
- Moral injury is defined as the profound psychological, behavioral, and spiritual distress that results
- from actions or betrayals that violate an individual's core moral beliefs. Individuals experiencing
- moral injury frequently exhibit clear changes in social behavior. The condition is strongly linked to
- an increased risk of substance use disorders and a heightened frequency of suicidal ideation.
- Ultimately, these destructive behavioral shifts and the inability to self-forgive lead to significant
- functional impairment, often requiring specialized therapy to address the underlying moral conflict.
- Secondly, we know a whole lot more today about traumatic brain injury. We also know that aircraft crews,
- especially during crashes, but even during simply hard landings, can sometimes experience TBIs. Nowadays,
- they all wear helmets. Back then, not so much.
- Traumatic brain injury, particularly in the frontal lobe, the brain's breaking system, is often damaged.
- This leads to impulsivity where a person acts or speaks without the usual filter that weighs consequences
- or social appropriateness. Impacted processes include behavioral inhibition, risk assessment, and future
- thinking. Bruce Demagge, March 8th.
- You ask if I had to fly so much. Actually, I don't. I have asked to fly as much as possible, and sometimes
- I have scrounged missions from other guys when I wasn't scheduled to fly. I've done this for two reasons.
- First, the only real contribution I can make over here requires that I fly. I like to fly anyway, but
- I also want to do something worthwhile. For example,
- When Minuteman 14 was shot down late one afternoon about a week ago while making an approach to the
- field location, I had already been released from my regular mission and was on my way home when I heard
- about it. There were three other SLICs and two gunships in the area when I arrived, but I thought I'd
- stick around just to see what happened. One SLIC went in and picked up the crew of the downed ship.
- Then he and the second SLIC returned in July. The third SLIC went in with the recovery and rigged up
- the chinook to pick up the helicopter.
- By this time, it was dark and bad weather had started to set in. The gunships were breaking station.
- They had expended most of their ordinance. Then I monitored a call from the people on the ground that
- a man in the LZ had been hit and would require medical evacuation. Under the existing circumstances,
- no other ship could have made it out to that area. And I highly doubt anyone could have found the LZ
- in the dark without having seen it during daylight. But it just so happened that I was in the area and
- was able to make the pickup.
- It was 10 o'clock the next morning before that area cleared up. The guy probably would have died if
- he had not been evacuated immediately, but he did receive medical attention 14 hours sooner than he
- would have otherwise. It made me feel good to know that. I find little satisfaction being away from
- you in this stupid war. The satisfaction I do find comes from helping people who need help. About the
- only way I can do that is when I'm in the air. Second reason.
- There is very little to do around here on a day off. Some guys find projects for themselves like walling
- off their area inside the hooch and making a room. One guy is even building a catamaran out of two old
- drop tanks. If it helps them pass the time, more power to them. My deprivation is not sleeping. It is
- being away from you and my family. Flying doesn't make me forget the fact, but it does give me other
- things to think about.
- Of course, it's safer on the ground than in the air. An aircraft came in this afternoon with a bunch
- of holes in it. The A.C. was shot in the foot. He was lucky. I think about how lucky all of us have
- been and that it bothers me sometimes. But as you well know, I'm not one for sitting on the sidelines.
- I know when I'm taking a chance, but the risk is always calculated. I have 1100 hours of flight time
- with no accidents, incidents or injuries because of me.
- and I will do everything I can to keep it that way." So at this point, he's been in country eight months.
- 100 hours a month, he should have about 800 hours. He has 1,100 hours of flight time at that point.
- March 21st. We lost another aircraft on the 19th. Fortunately, all of the crew made it out.
- Also on the 19th, my crew chief was wounded
- you might say my birthday wasn't the best of days. That was all he said about the 19th. Award of the
- Silver Star, date of action, March 19th, 1969. For gallantry and action against an enemy in the Republic
- of Vietnam, Warrant Officer Schaeffer distinguished himself by intrepid actions while serving as pilot
- with the 176th. On that date, a helicopter was downed by hostile ground forces near the village of
- receiving word of the incident, Warrant Officer Schaeffer immediately flew up to the area. Arriving
- at the location of the wreckage, he teamed up with another helicopter and made repeated passes over
- the crash site, placing suppressive fire on the insurgents and searching for survivors. With no sign
- of life or any communications coming from the downed ship, he prepared to abort the operation when one
- of his crewmen observed what appeared to be a strobe light coming from the frame of the aircraft. Taking
- command of the situation, he descended through a hail of enemy fire,
- and landed near the disabled ship. Despite the heavy volumes of hostile fire directed at his ship, he
- loaded the survivors aboard and lifted out of the area. Through his timely actions and outstanding flying
- ability, he was largely responsible for the success of the extraction and undoubtedly saved the lives
- of the entire crew. For his fellow soldiers and devotion to duty and keeping with the highest tradition
- of the military service, he is awarded the Silver Star.
- switching hats again to what we know today. One of the things that we also know today, folks that are
- experiencing PTSD, moral injury, traumatic brain injuries, all of these sort of things, those effects
- are compounded by the use of marijuana, alcohol, other drugs in that area. TBI already weakens the brain's
- ability to evaluate risk and social norms. Alcohol further dissolves those inhibitions, leading to a
- much higher risk of aggressive outbursts
- reckless or dangerous behavior. Marijuana can exacerbate the problem further by slowing the risk process
- functions in the brain. This is that tough part to talk about. This is the night of the 28th. It's the
- day that Bruce died. Witness testimony states that the afternoon of the 28th Schaeffer had smoked marijuana.
- Official investigation report. Schaeffer and several other warrant officers were playing bridge and
- drinking mixed drinks. No one, including Schaeffer, was considered intoxicated. After the bridge game,
- Schaeffer began handling an M16, replaced a magazine in the weapon and ejected several rounds by working
- the receiver by hand. A friend took the weapon away, removed the magazine and cleared it. Schaeffer
- later picked it up again and again loaded it and worked the mechanism.
- This time it was taken away in the magazine removed, but it was not cleared when Schaeffer picked it
- up. Evidently unaware of a round in the chamber, he pointed it at his head from approximately waist
- level and the weapon went off. A witness said, death is what everyone here is concerned with. Bruce
- had supreme confidence in all of his actions. I know he was sure in his own mind there was no round
- in the chamber.
- It was his way of mocking everyone else's concern with death. Bruce's commander said Bruce was not alone
- in his billet the night of the accident. He and some of his closest friends, warrant officers with whom
- he attended flight school and came to Vietnam, had just finished their nightly bridge game when the
- accident occurred. They had been drinking, but no one was intoxicated. Further, I had never seen Bruce
- intoxicated during my time with the company. There was no scuffle of any sort for the rifle.
- Bruce had the weapon in his hand when it discharged. I have no doubt in my mind that Bruce thought the
- weapon was cleared of any ammunition, but that was not the case. Bruce was one of the best liked and
- most respected men in the company. He was an outstanding officer and aviator. His friends delayed writing
- you because we must ensure the official notification has accomplished prior to any personal correspondence.
- To Maggie from one of Bruce's
- fellow pilots. Myself and the rest of the aviators had great respect and admiration for Bruce as he
- continued along every day. His exploits and accomplishments were known throughout our operating area.
- Everyone knew or had heard of Minuteman 17. Ground commanders would put a request through channels for
- 17 specifically to fly their command and control chopper. Bruce displayed much courage and stamina day
- in and day out.
- He flew more missions than anyone. He requested his missions for the most dangerous areas. There was
- nothing Bruce would not fly into to aid a unit requesting emergency ammo or medical evacuation. Aircraft
- that were shot down in really hostile territory, Bruce was there, usually first on the scene, waiting
- to pick up the downed crew. It's for two missions like that that Bruce received a V device for his air
- medal and the Silver Star.
- No one is more deserving of those awards than Bruce. So when I first talked about doing this presentation
- and Maggie first approached me with the materials, one of the things that I found out as I talked to
- people is there's a lot of information about what happened to Bruce and what were the circumstances
- of his death. There were multiple investigations by the Army, by the VA, there was even a trial by the VA about
- his death that got additional witness statements and other things that came forward. I've read through
- all of those. There are pages and pages of the statements of the six or seven individuals that he interacted
- with that evening that were witnesses that were there when it happened. And so as it sometimes gets
- labeled in public sites that Bruce died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, people sometimes think of
- that as meaning suicide.
- and a full suicide investigation was conducted, and they found no grounds for that. That is not what
- happened here. In my mind, reading all of the evidence, my best guess, because we don't have the way
- of going back and looking at PTSD and TBI and all of these sort of things, my best guess is that Bruce's
- risk and level of risk and tolerance of risk
- had continued to go down and down and down to the point where he was largely just immune to the risks
- that he was taking and the things that he was doing. That's great as a pilot going out and flying missions
- and trying to evacuate people and save lives. Hanging out with your buddies in the barracks, that can
- lead to problems along the way. And so by all accounts, Bruce's death was accidental in that sense.
- And so I hope that those who knew Bruce
- That is the side that you will remember. This ambitious, risk-taking hero that was willing to put in
- the work, whether it was a student government officer or student body senator, or it was as a pilot
- new to the ground in Vietnam. He put forth this work and saved a lot of lives in the process. Unfortunately,
- the mental health care system and the psychological system at the time, we weren't able to sort of recognize
- these challenges in veterans in combat and folks that were experiencing these things. And for that,
- I think Bruce ultimately paid the price.
- He was there nine months. Yep. So he was slated to go home in July, so July 8th specifically was supposed
- to be his last day. He had two weeks of R&R that he had been slated to take originally in February and
- those got pushed back for various reasons and at the
- point that this happened he was planning on taking R&R coming up in the next month or so. Him and another
- pilot were going to go to Hong Kong or Bangkok for R&R. At one point he had been trying to get to Hawaii
- so that he could meet up with his wife and have her come out and timing wise with the Army and other
- things that just wasn't working out.
- Yeah, I mean, from his own statements that he writes about his future career, he did not want to make
- a career of the Army. He wasn't planning to stay there. And I realized I forgot to flip through my slides.
- I knew that was going to happen because I didn't write flip slides on the pages. So I'll flip through
- them as we go.
- He wrote about, you know, seeking a career. He had been studying economics. He was talking about a career
- in communications. He really saw himself. He liked the guy. Honestly, I think he would have run for
- office. I think he would have probably gone into politics if he had gotten out. So.
- one of my favorite because it looks like a movie photo so through it well Bruce is the one in the sunglasses
- so you can always tell the aircraft commander in these photos the aircraft commander aircraft commander
- has a special patch that they wear and you can see his hang in on his uniform there right below that
- his mom didn't like the mustache by the way
- His wife did, but his mom didn't. Almost all the ones I quoted from were written to his wife. One of
- them was to a friend that he wrote. He also wrote to his parents. He also wrote to some other friends.
- He did not talk about the war nearly as much in those letters. He did not talk about his own
- personal experiences and feelings in those letters. Those were mostly reserved for Maggie. This is the
- stereo, not the one that he bought. This is the stereo they had in the barracks. And there's a whole
- lot of back and forth about how cheap it was to get audio equipment over there. And he was constantly
- pricing out new stereo systems and cameras and shipping binoculars home to his brother and all of these
- other things that he could get cheaper over there.
- I'm not sure if this was, again, I don't have context, I'm not sure if this was his helicopter or someone else's.
- Yeah, I'm kind of curious in a couple of the really good pictures that are in there. You know, this
- is a little before the selfie days. So who was taking those photos? But one of the guys in his unit
- or somebody had an eye for taking those photos in order to do that. And he sent them home.
- something I appreciate. I served in the military in the pre-digital days and had a camera with me and
- I used to take rolls and rolls of film and I would get double prints and then I would charge all the
- guys in my platoon a quarter for the extra prints.
- and then they could mail them home to their families, and that covered my cost of film and developing
- in order to do that. So we went on one six-month deployment, and I took 30 rolls of film in six months
- because everybody else was paying for it, so why not, right? So I appreciate his effort at taking photographs
- for the guys and getting them out there. Any other questions? Yeah, go ahead.
- I read a lot of comments about what we know today about the psychological situation going on. Put yourself
- back at that time with this man and what would have been different? I think there, I would say in 2026,
- there is training for senior enlisted leaders and officers on recognizing
- psychological changes in people, whether that is this person is becoming risk-averse or this person
- is being too risky, this person is making poor personal life choices type of stuff. I think there is
- more consciousness of that. I think particularly among soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen themselves,
- somebody would have raised a hand and said, and granted, there may have been many of them that were
- in the same situation, but somebody would have raised a hand and said,
- hey, I think he needs to talk to the chaplain, or I think he needs to talk to somebody. You know, he's
- a great pilot, he's doing great work, but his behavior really radically changed. The couple of conversations
- that I have had via email and Facebook Messenger with some of the guys that he served with, one of the
- things that stood out to me is they talked about his behavior change, even now. That they were cognizant
- of the time, that they attributed it to a lot of different things,
- They didn't attribute it to the crash. They didn't attribute it to combat stress or any of those things.
- They attributed it to all sorts of other things that were sort of happening. And I don't see that in
- his writing. What I see in his writing is the combat stress. And I've not read every letter.
- I've not read, you know, some of these letters are six pages long. You know, oftentimes, I just read
- a portion of them. One of the other things that's notable is by January,
- He doesn't talk about at-home politics. He talks about stereos and cars and family. All this becomes
- much more condensed. There's not a lot of talking about, hey, I was just sitting here listening to the
- stereo and it was great. You know, these sort of things that are in his early letters, you're not seeing
- those in the latter ones, partially because he's flying all the time, but also because of some of these
- other things I think that are sort of happening in the background.
- In having this conversation, and I brought this issue up with some Vietnam vets, some of whom that he
- served with, I brought it up with Maggie and his brother, and they all, knowing this bit of information,
- think that makes a lot more sense for what happened and how they saw it. Yes.
- Where is he buried? So he was buried at sea. After coming back here to Bloomington, he was cremated
- and then eventually buried at sea. Maggie lived with Bruce's parents here in Bloomington for a number
- of years while she used her benefits to go to IU Law School. And she became a lawyer and did eventually
- remarry and have kids. Her and Bruce did not have any kids.
- and is now retired and lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana. So she was hoping to be here today. She messaged
- me like 8.05 this morning and was like having car problems. And she was like, I'm trying to get somebody
- to come help me with my car. And I don't know what's happening and what's going on. And she was kind
- of a little bit of a tizzy about being able to be here. And so she was able to make it. Yes.
- No, they did not. Yeah. It did not. And there were guys in his unit that were nominated for the Medal
- of Honor, one of which was eventually upgraded to the Medal of Honor during the Obama administration.
- That's how I know, because there's a photo of the guys from his unit with President Obama when it happened.
- I don't know exactly what year it was. And so there were a lot, amongst their unit in particular, there
- were a lot of heroic pilots that were flying in to beleaguered units and rescuing people. And to be
- clear, he was not a medevac pilot per se. Dust off medevac pilots were few and far between.
- Typically, he was flying around dropping troops off. But if he dropped them off and they got injured,
- he'd fly back and pick them up as well and take them out. And my commitment is next time I'll have a
- happier topic. Thank you all.
- So one last quick thing I'll add, I do have some of Bruce's memorabilia up here, including his silver
- star. If you would like to come up and see that, you're welcome to.