This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Sgt J. Mollohan
to remember
Marine 1stLt David Charles Bruggeman.
If you knew or served with this Marine and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Casualty Info
Home Town Pittsburgh
Last Address Pittsburgh/Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania
Casualty Date Apr 01, 1972
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Gun, Small Arms Fire
Location Quang Tri (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Jefferson Memorial Park - Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania
Vietnam War/Vietnam Cease-fire Campaign (1972-73)/Battle of Firebase Alpha 2
From Month/Year
April / 1972
To Month/Year
April / 1972
Description The 1st ANGLICO people were experts in coordinating air, artillery, and naval gunfire support for ground forces, working as airborne or ground Forward Observers. Corporal James F. Worth was a member of an ANGLICO gunfire liaison team at Firebase Alpha 2 in Gio Linh District, Quang Tri Province, one of several in the "Alpha" group of tiny firebases arranged in a loose arc just south of the DMZ.
The North Vietnamese Spring 1972 invasion began with a two-pronged attack - the reinforced 304th Division moving eastward from Laos and the 308th Division attacking southward across the Demilitarized Zone. When the NVA 308th Division crossed the DMZ, attacking southward on coastal plains between the sea and Highway 1, they encountered the Alpha firebases and concentrated most of their force against the three firebases between Highway 1 and the coast. Firebase Alpha 2 was the most important of the three because it was the farthest north and one of two bases in the area containing artillery. On the morning of April 1, the base was overrun.
The ANGLICO team was overrun along with the rest of the firebase. Its commanding officer, 1st Lt David C. Bruggeman, USMC, was fatally wounded in the fighting (and was awarded a posthumous Silver Star for his bravery). A second team member, Corporal Worth, was separated from his comrades during the confusion of battle and could not be found when a Huey from F Troop, 8th Cavalry managed to pick up the other team members. On April 2nd, Corporal Worth came up on his radio to advise that he was on his way overland to Dong Ha. He never arrived. Corporal Worth was carried as Missing in Action until the Secretary of the Navy approved a Presumptive Finding of Death on 17 Jan 1977.
Post-war investigations by the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting found witnesses who found the body of a dead Caucasian within the Alpha-2 base area; they said he was dressed in combat gear, was in a Jeep, and had a radio on his back. The body was buried, but the exact spot is uncertain. JTF-FA documents now available from the Library of Congress, the most recent a 2007 message, indicate the search for Cpl Worth's remains continue.
