War Memorial supporter and American Legion member shares memories from Vietnam War

Bruce Bradley is very fortunate to come away from the Vietnam War and military service unscarred.

“I grew more,” he said. “Many people sacrificed a lot and I feel I learned a lot more than I sacrificed. It was a valuable part of my maturity.”

Bradley, of Grosse Pointe Park, served in the Navy and then the Navy Reserve from 1967-1973. He’s taken part in many patriotic and community events at The War Memorial, most recently being Memorial Day and The War Memorial’s fundraising gala, An Evening of Red, White & Blue. Additionally, he is a member of the newly renamed Frederick M. Alger American Legion Post 372, which regularly meets at the nonprofit organization.

“What The War Memorial is doing now is great,” he said. “Not only are veterans honored, but the fallen and those who are currently serving.”

Born in New Rochelle, New York, Bradley attended Yale University, graduating from the Ivy League school in 1967. At Yale, Bradley was part of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps. While he didn’t know him, Bradley was at Yale the same time as Karl Marlantes - the award-winning author and Vietnam War veteran who appeared at The War Memorial in April.

Vietnam War veterans Bruce Bradley, left, and Karl Marlantes are seen at The War Memorial in April.

Bradley went into active-duty Navy in 1967, shortly after graduating. He reported aboard a destroyer, serving as the deck officer with the rank of first lieutenant.  

His first tour of duty in Vietnam was from November 1968 to the spring of 1969 on the USS Gurke, a destroyer named after Medal of Honor recipient Henry Gurke.  
 
“We deployed to the western Pacific and did plain guard with a number of aircraft carriers,” he said. “We either were in front or behind the carrier. The main job was if there was an accident, we would pick them up.”  

Speaking about Yankee Station, the area off the coast of Vietnam where U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and support ships operated, Bradley said that was the area where aircraft were launched from. 

“The second job we had was gun line,” he said. “The Marines would call in their position and we would have fire support.” 

Another job was search and rescue operations near Haiphong Harbor. The last role was to assist with in-flight refueling helicopters. 

“If a pilot were able to get out after being hit on the water, we could pick them up,” Bradley said. “We rescued two pilots like that with a motor whale boat and that was my responsibility as deck officer. For refueling, A helicopter would hover over our fantail, drop a hook and we would attach it to a fuel hose, then they would haul up and refuel.”   

During what became known as the Pueblo incident in January 1968, the Gurke’s job was to tow the captured research ship out, something that never happened. The USS Pueblo was attacked and captured by a North Korean vessel on Jan. 23, 1968.  

“We went up as a show of force,” Bradley said. “We showed our muscle, nothing ever happened and we came back without it.”  

After his first tour in Vietnam, Bradley returned back to the U.S. for a few months. After that, in late 1969, he was reassigned to a Mobile Riverine Force in the Mekong River Delta in South Vietnam. For his second tour, he operated from a river boat, the USS Nueces. 

“We flew to Saigon, then went to the Mekong River as a weapons officer with the force,” he said. “The force’s job was to house and support the Army 9th  Infantry Division patrolling on small river boats. The force was like a whole Navy base, floating up and down the river.” 

Explaining his second tour, Bradley said it wasn’t fun, and involved more combat. The mothership he was stationed on was the Nueces.  

“We were fired upon,” he said. “One shore was where the Vietcong were in charge and that’s where we helped land Army troops in landing craft. We provided fire support for that. We were hit a few times by RPGs and rockets, but there were no injuries.”  

Once his nearly three years of active duty in the Navy ended, Bradley spent about three years in the Navy Reserve. In the Reserve, he attended The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He was discharged in 1973 as a lieutenant.  
 
With over 50 years of perspective since his time in the Vietnam War, Bradley said there of course were questions of what America was doing in Vietnam. 

“We did our job,” he said. “History is a whole different story, but at the time, we had a job to do and we did it. You can look back in history and say it was a mistake.”   

In civilian life, Bradley worked in the healthcare industry. He worked in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut prior to working for General Motors in Detroit. He retired in 2008 as the director of health care strategy and public policy.   

In 2021, Bradley married Chrissie (Zoufal) Bradley, a longtime friend of his late wife Shirley Bradley. He has three children and four grandchildren.