Name: WO1 William Jonathan Bradford
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 08/01/1971 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Age at death: 21.1
Date of Birth: 06/25/1950
Home City: Granada Hills, CA
Service: AV branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: HHC 2 BDE 101 ABN
Major organization: 101st Airborne Division
Flight class: 70-31/70-27
Service: AV branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 03W-120
Short Summary: Shot down, crashed and burned during a scout mission south of Phu Bai.
Aircraft: OH-6A tail number 68-17176
Call sign: BRANDY
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 100B = Utility/Observation Helicopter Pilot
Primary cause: Hostile Fire
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: small arms fire
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: pilot
Vehicle ownership: government
Started Tour: 11/08/1970
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - pilot
The initial status of this person was: non-hostile dead - died out-right
Length of service: *
Location: Thua Thien Province I Corps.
Military grid coordinates of event: YC994945
Additional information about this casualty:
I was first on station and discovered the aircraft burning and laying on its side. We could not identify anyone in the aircraft. It appeared to have also hit a stump on its way down. I was his best friend and room mate. Jim Menconi, July 1998.
Bill was originally in Class 70-27 at Ft Wolters and we were room mates in A-4. He developed an eye infection part way through and was unable to fly for awhile. Rather than graduating from Ft Rucker with Class 70-29 (which took more than itâÇÖs share of casualties), Bill ended up in the later 70-31. Although we were both stationed in Phu Bai, I did not run into him there. I found his name on the travelling Wall in Waco, Texas in 1989.
From: Ben Brown
Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
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Date posted on this site:
11/13/2023
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Casualty type: Hostile - killed
single male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Presbyterian
Burial information: SAN FERNANDO MISSION CEMETERY, MISSION HILLS, CA
The following information secondary, but may help in explaining this incident.
Category of casualty as defined by the Army: battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: warrant officer
This record was last updated on 01/21/2011