1st Lt. Donald W. Bruch comes home
Bobo sends us a link to AR Gunners which reports that U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Donald W. Bruch, Jr. a 24-year-old who was lost north of Hanoi on April 29, 1966, will finally come home to East Petersburg, Pennsylvania on May 29th. From POW Network;
On April 29, 1966, 1Lt. Donald W. Bruch Jr., was the pilot of an F105D sent on a combat mission over North Vietnam. As his aircraft was about 12 miles northeast of the city of Hanoi, it was struck by antiaircraft fire while making an attack on the target. Lt. Bruch was instructed to climb and as he did the aircraft went out of control, entered a steep dive, and crashed. No parachutes were seen and no beepers were heard. Donald Bruch was not recovered.
Public records available from the U.S. Air Force indicate only that 1Lt. Bruch was killed on April 29, 1966 on a combat mission. The Defense Intelligence Agency further refines the classification of Killed/Body Not Recovering by adding an enemy knowledge qualifier of Category, concluding that the enemy definitely knows his fate.
Category: We Remember
Welcome Home Sir
Rest Well
Salute……
Welcome home brother. Rest in peace in your home soil. God be with your family now Sir.
Rest Well, LT.
Good to have you home.
Slow hand salute from Houston…
Welcome home, Lieutenant. You have been missed.
In East Petersburg, Pennsylvania there is a Mennonite Cemetery. There are at least three stones there bearing the names of Baruch. One is for the Lieutenant’s mother, Alice, who departed this world in 2000. Another is for his dad, Donald W. Bruch, Sr., who died in 1977. The third is not a headstone but a stone marker. It reads, in part, “In Memory of Donald W. Baruch, Jr.” and identifies him by rank and branch of service. There were no remains so the marker was all there could be. That is now changed. He will join his parents there, in East Petersburg, this Memorial Day weekend.
I am sorry. All of the information that I included above is correct except one: I somehow misspelled the family’s name. It is, of course, Bruch. My apologies.
Welcome home LT.
Rest easy now.
As Reb would say Rest in Peace…
And those bastards know so much more. If money isn’t a reason to turn over remains we wouldn’t get anything. Our Military left behind our fathers and brothers and its time the assholes fess up to it. 41 damn years is long enough and those involved are hopefully already in hell.
Welcome home. Rest in peace brother.