THE WALL OF FACES

Dear Cpl Dennis Bruce,
Thank you for your service as a Medical NCO. Thank you for the lives you saved. It is important for us all to acknowledge the sacrifices of those like you who answered our nation's call. Please watch over America, it stills needs your courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

Dear CPL Dennis Ray Bruce, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter

Dennis is buried at Arcadia Cemetery, Arcadia, Hancock County, OH. PH

A Vietnam Veterans Memorial stone has been placed at the Maple Grove Cemetery in Findlay, Ohio to honor local residents who lost their lives in Vietnam. The names of the 23 soldiers are inscribed on one side of the memorial underneath the heading “VIETNAM.” The other side of the stone repeats the “VIETNAM” heading, followed underneath with the words, “THE 10,000 DAY WAR.” It also includes illustrations etched in the stone featuring a soldier struggling in jungle vegetation, others engaged in a firefight, and scenes of aviation, a naval vessel, and a memorial service.

CPL Dennis R. Bruce was born in Findlay, OH on February 21, 1945. The sixth of nine children, he grew up in the village of Arcadia, attending the neighborhood Arcadia Local School grades kindergarten through 12th. Corporal Bruce was athletic as a youth, participating in pony league baseball, wrestling, judo, and varsity football in high school. Apart from sports, he was active in youth group at the local Hardin Street Church of God. After graduation, Corporal Bruce moved to Atascadero, CA, living with his older brother Wilford and his family, and worked briefly at Atascadero State Hospital. While in California, he felt compelled to serve his country, and in the summer of 1964, he drove down to the recruiting offices inside the Anderson Hotel in downtown San Luis Obispo to enlist, forever inscribing into Army files San Luis Obispo as his home of record. Corporal Bruce took basic training at Ford Ord, CA, then transferred to Fort Sam Houston, TX for advanced infantry training and medical corpsman school. In February 1965 he was sent to Fort Benning, GA where he began jump school after being accepted in the airborne division. Now a Senior Medical Specialist, he finished his training in enough time to participate in Operation Powerpack, the U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic in April 1965. When his unit returned, Corporal Bruce volunteered for service in Vietnam, arriving there on January 10, 1966, assigned to HeadquartersHeadquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Division, 101st Airborne Division. On March 22, 1966, his unit was operating around Tuy Hoa in the Phu Yen province, an area know as the Rice Bowl, when Corporal Bruce stepped on a land mine, killing him and another soldier. He was 21 years-old. He is buried at the Arcadia Cemetery in Hancock County, OH.