Bruce Briant Greene – Captain, United States Air Force

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Full Name: BRUCE BRIANT GREENE
Date of Birth: 3/26/1940
Date of Casualty: 12/13/1968
Home of Record: WYNNEWOOD, PENNSYLVANIA
Branch of Service: AIR FORCE
Rank: CAPT
Casualty Country: SOUTH VIETNAM
Casualty Province: HUA NGHIA

Captain Bruce Briant Greene was from Wynnewood, Pennsylvania and born on 26 March 1940. He was 28 and married when he died.

He was an Issue Forward Air Controller assigned to the 19th Tactical Air Support Squadron at Bien Hoa. He and Captain Charles Farrell Griffin were flying OV-10A S/N 67-14627 supporting the 24th Infantry Division when they collided with an AC-47 dropping flares from 3500 feet. They were trying to break off a night attack by Viet Cong on an outpost six miles southeast of Truc Giang in Hua Nghia Province South Vietnam in the Mekong Delta.

The OV-10 may have been hit by small arms fire but it could not be positively determined. Both aircraft tried to return to Bien Hoa but the OV-10 crashed killing both pilots and the AC-47 was scrapped after being badly damaged on landing. Captain Greene had four years of service and had served 53 days in combat. His body was recovered and his name is located at 36W 016 on the Vietnam Memorial.

Air Force Captain Bruce B. Greene, son of Colonel and Mrs. Le Roy V. Greene, formerly of Wynnewood, now of Atlanta, Georgia, listed as missing for two days after his plane was shot down in Vietnam, was killed in the crash, the Air Force disclosed Wednesday.

Captain Greene was co-pilot of one of the new OV 10’s assigned by the Air Force to the 25th Infantry Division. He was Forward Air Controller for the Second Brigade.

He was flying close reconnaissance over the enemy lines between Saigon and the Cambodian border where the Vietcong have massed several units and where the heaviest fighting is now taking place. He had accomplished his mission and was returning when the plane crashed.

Rescue helicopters attempted to land, but were driven away by the enemy. His body was recovered two days later by search parties when action in the area subsided.

Captain Greene, 28, was born in Philadelphia while his father, on leave of absence from the old Philadelphia Public Ledger, where he was night city editor, served as press secretary to Governor Arthur H. James in 1940.

Captain Greene was one of the “football twins” at the University of North Carolina, where he graduated in 1963 after playing varsity football with his twin brother, Air Force Captain Duff S. Greene, also a jet pilot, who recenetly returned from Vietnam after 100 combat missions. Duff is stationed in Germany.

Captain Greene was president of the college sophomore class and cadet commander of the Air Force ROTC Squadron.
An older brother, Air Force Major Le Roy V. Greene Jr., is on duty at the Command and General Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

In addition to his parents and brothers, Captain Greene is survived by his wife, the former Martha Jo Greason, of Norristown, New Jersey, and two children Erin, 2 and Wade Briant, 1.

Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery.

GREENE, BRUCE B
CAPT USAF
DATE OF BIRTH: 03/26/1940
DATE OF DEATH: 12/13/1968
BURIED AT: SECTION 2  SITE 975-D
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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