CPL.
BRUCE ARDEN CHRISTENSEN
Born
on Oct. 15, 1947
From ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA
Casualty was on Feb. 9, 1971
in QUANG NAM, SOUTH VIETNAM
HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY
GUN, SMALL ARMS FIRE
Panel
5W - - Line 90
Cpl.
Bruce Christensen served with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines,
India Co. His name stands proudly on the India 3/5 Wall of
Honor. Semper fidelis, Brother Marine. We will never forget.
Thank
you to a fallen friend
Bruce
died in the Quan Queson Mountain area outside of LZ Ross and in
the sniper valley area. Bruce was attached to my squad that day.
He was a machine gunner and very much liked by everyone. As Lt.Turner,
Bill Tapper, Myself and RTO Joe Pleasa were checking our defensive
perimeter, it was decided they wanted Bruce to cover another field
of fire. As we were walking away, Bruce stood up as they hit us.
Looking
back on it after all of these years, Myself and those above owe
our lives to Bruce for as he stood up, he took the burst of AK fire
that was meant for us. And our corpsman tried everything in vain
to save him, but he never knew what happened.
Bruce
started out in the An Hoa area, and was on many operations. He was
as fine of a person as you would ever want to know.
I want to say thank you, Bruce, for the life you gave the four of
us. May God Bless your soul. I helped carry him on the chopper that
da,y and have always remembered Bruce and my other fallen friends
of India 3/5, 3rd plt. 1st Mar. Div.
Bruce
Bryan
friend/squad leader
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Platoon
1178
I
was in boot camp with Bruce as a member of Platoon 1178 at San Diego
during the last half of 1969. To my knowledge, Bruce is the only
member of our platoon to have been killed in Viet Nam. I remember
that Bruce was assigned as the secretary for the platoon, and spent
considerable time doing work for the drill instructors. He was always
cordial to everyone, and was a nice guy. I am sorry that he died,
but he was a good Marine, and one who served his country with pride.
Semper Fi
Jim
Barns
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