The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Richard Norman Bruso.

The Wall › Panel 5W › Massachusetts › Richard Norman Bruso

RICHARD NORMAN BRUSO

Specialist Six · U.S. Army

February 19, 1939 – February 15, 1971

Service record

Richard Norman Bruso, of Springfield, Massachusetts, served as a Specialist Six in the U.S. Army. He died on February 15, 1971, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 31. His name is inscribed on Panel 5W, Line 104 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 5W · Line 104

Position of Panel 5W on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.

Remember

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Specialist Six (SP6)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Utility Helicopter Repairer (67N)
Unit (as recorded)
101 AIRBORNE DIV
Born
February 19, 1939
Home of record
Springfield, Massachusetts (Hampden County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 15, 1971
Age
31
Province
Thua Thien
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

33 names on the Wall carry the date February 15, 1971; 13 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In February 1971, 387 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 50 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 5W, Line 104

Same unit, same day

From Springfield

All 47 names from Springfield →

Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.