Alan Lee Bracken

Alan Lee Bracken

Company C 1/22 Infantry

4th Infantry Division

KIA January 25, 1970

Corporal (See Note below)

Army Of The United States

PERSONAL DATA

Home: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

DOB: Wednesday, 04/21/1948

Sex: Male

Race: Caucasian

Married? Yes

Religion: Protestant

MILITARY DATA

Service: Army Of The United States

Comp: Selective Service

Grade: E3

Rank: Corporal (See Note below)

MOS: 11B10 - Infantryman

LenSvc: Less than one year

Unit: 4 INF DIV

Note: Posthumous Promotion As Indicated

CASUALTY DATA

Start Tour: Sunday, 11/16/1969

Cas Date: Sunday, 01/25/1970

Age at Loss: 21

Remains: Body Recovered

Location: Quang Ngai, South Vietnam

Type: Hostile, Died

Reason: Gun, Small Arms Fire - Ground Casualty

Panel 14W Line 064

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Alan Bracken was killed in action during an engagement with hostile forces at grid reference BR709596,
approximately 10 kilometers east of Vinh Thanh airfield.

CPL Allen L. Bracken's decorations

05 Apr 2001

I served with Alan in Co C 1/22 Infantry, 4th Infantry Division.

I only knew Alan a few months before his death. He was shot as we came under attack one morning
and he survived until the Helicopter arrived to dust him off.

I helped load Alan onto the helicopter and he seemed to go just as we got him on board. Another fellow helping
to get Alan on board was shot in the calf in the process as was the helicopter.

Alan was a good soldier and he was a good guy. He liked to laugh and to have a good time. He cleaned a bunch of us out
playing poker a few weeks before his death and I remember how he teased us about it.

I give thanks for Alan and will remember him always.

From his friend and fellow soldier,

Robert Wren

rewren@gmail.com

The following poem was written by Alan Bracken in December of 1969,
while serving in Vietnam with Charlie Company 1/22 Infantry.
It reflects a combat infantryman's feelings, as he watches his buddies die,
with the constant knowledge that he himself may be the next man to fall.

Tragically, Alan would die less than two months after he wrote these words.

Thanks to Alan's fellow soldiers, his poem has been preserved for posterity.
Their words serve as an introduction to Alan's writing:

"Below is a copy of a poem that I received from Jim Green, one of my Panther Platoon buddies back in Charlie Company in 69-70.
It contains a poem written about the fight for hill 474 where "Doc" Phillip Jewell and Johnny Trainham
of Charlie Company were killed on Sept 21, 1969. The poem was written by Alan Bracken, of Second Platoon.
It is in Alan's own handwriting and was kept by Jim these 30 odd years.
Bracken was Killed in Action himself on January 25, 1970."

Robert Wren, January 2005

"I'm not the only one who deserves credit for the poem.Thomas Waybright has the orignal copy of it.
He sent me a photo stat copy of it and we've been talking about doing this for a long time.

Jim Green, January 2005

Hill 474 12-7-69

November 21st, a day of Reconing,
A time of Sorrow, a moan of Beckoning,
So scared were we, the night of the day before,
For tomorrow we faced the undetermined score.

The hill was Theirs, but our to take
A hill bestowed, for our lives were at stake!
Then Morning came, the men were ready,
Our gear all packed, but our minds unsteady.

The long hump began, with insides shakey,
For everyone knew our shit was flakey,
The Hill was theirs, but would soon be ours,
Though it might take days or infinite hours.

With mini-guns working, & red tracers flying,
The Gooks Held; for their goal is worth dying.
Our journey under way, there would be no stop,
for the Colonel said, "We must make it to the top".

We took the hill, but without great pride,
For beneath our feet, our two buddies lied.
Two great men were Doc and J.T.,
But in our minds they ever will be.

No greater price could anyone ask of man,
Than to give his life, to insure peace in the land.
To fight they were called, and to fight they came,
But who can you curse, and who can you blame.

The Hill is ours, but we must push on,
For the "grunt" is a nomad; here then gone.
The Hill was theirs and now its ours,
Forever to stand like a graveyard with towers.

written in Vietnam by Alan Bracken, December 7, 1969

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The website is grateful to Robert Wren, Jim Green and Thomas Waybright, all veterans of 1/22 Infantry,
for preserving and sharing Alan Bracken's heartfelt tribute to his fallen brothers-in-arms.

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Burial:
Union Cemetery
Hellertown
Northampton County
Pennsylvania, USA

Grave marker for Alan Lee Bracken

Photo by Beverly G. Kirby-McDonough from the Find A Grave website

Marker for Alan Lee Bracken

Photo by Beverly G. Kirby-McDonough from the Find A Grave website

Top photo of Alan Lee Bracken from the Liberty High School yearbook 1965 courtesy of Chad Lewis

For a tribute to Alan L. Bracken click on the following link:

Together We Served

Click on Alan's name below to visit his memorial page on the Virtual Wall website:

Alan L. Bracken

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