PFC. William (Bill) Henry Bric, III, BHS 1967

PFC. William Henry Bric, III, BHS 1967

Today is Memorial Day and I am honoring my classmate, PFC. William Henry Bric, III, who was killed in action in Vietnam on August 23,1968. You can find his name on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C., on Panel 47W, Line 038. Bill was buried with full military honors at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, California. To visit his gravesite, Click Here

Posthumous Awards To Burbank Soldier

PFC. William Henry Bric, III, has been posthumously awarded the First Oak Leaf Cluster to the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart Medal for his service as a Green Beret soldier in Vietnam.

His parents, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Bric, Jr., of 620 E. Groton, will travel to San Pedro Thursday to accept the award in ceremonies at 3:30 p.m. at Fort MacArthur.

Bric was killed in August as a result of wounds received in a base camp near Da Nang when the area came under hostile fire. His parents and their 19-year-old son believed that America's involvement in Vietnam was a stand against the threat of world communist aggression.

The 1967 Burbank High School graduate had been in Vietnam slightly more than a month before he was killed. In a letter to his parents shortly before his death, the soldier said he was stationed near the Laotian border. "Risk-wise it is the worst spot to go, but it's what I want and what I know does some good." "I'll be monitoring enemy
troop movements that just might save a few American lives."

The Green Beret joined the Army in July, 1967. He received his basic training at Ft. Ord, advanced training at Ft. Gordon, Georgia, jump school at Ft. Benning, Georgia, and Special Forces training at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.

His parents said Bric was very politically-minded as well as conscientious in his dealing with people. He was active in the Young Republicans and worked on the 1964 Barry Goldwater campaign.

Published in the Burbank Review