Posted by Bill Robertson on March 16, 2007:

Part 1: Between airborne class 4 and ranger class 6, 16 bachelor classmates destined for stateside airborne duty, were temporarily assigned to Fort Jackson SC to unglorious jobs supporting Project TEAM (Test & Evaluation Airmobility). Bruce among others was ultimately headed for the 82nd. I among others was bound for the 101st. We were billeted in a previously abandoned WWII wooden barracks without running water. We had an outdoor shower. Almost every evening we played touch football - the new lieutenants against the warrant officer pilots who were billeted in the barracks next to us. The helicopters were parked across the street, deliberately set down so the tips of the rotor blades marked the bounds of our playing field. Part 2: IN 1987 our family moved to Roswell Ga. It was thanks to John Ward's book that I learned that Bruce's last know address was in Roswell. (That address is now a doctors office.) Since there is only one cemetery it was not hard to locate Bruce's grave, but I was not able to locate any next of kin in the area. I asked the funeral parlor adjacent to the cemetery if they had information on the next of kin, and they gave me the name of Brenda Connelly, but I was unable to find any Brenda Connelly's in the area. In March 2007 while trying to locate another friend via the internet, I tried once more to find any B. Connelly in Georgia. This time I was successful. Brenda told me she and Bruce had met at his civilian job after he had gotten out of the Army and they were married in 1974. Bruce died of lung cancer in 1983. Brenda married her current husband Emmett Connelly in 1989. The Connelly's moved back to Georgia from Ellenville WA three years ago, which explains why I was not able to locate her until now. Brenda's address is: 545 Bond Rd., Cairo, GA 39827.

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