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.