Rank: Sergeant First Class
Unit: K Troop, 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11D – Armor Reconnaissance Specialist
Awards: Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Regular
Date of birth: 22-Apr-1939
Hometown: Des Moines, Iowa
Marital status: Married to Carolyn D. Garrett
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: Jan-1959
Start of tour: 14-Sep-1968
Incident date: 7-Feb-1969
Date of casualty: 7-Feb-1969
Age at death: 29
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Explosive Device. Other explosive device.
Richard Bruce Garrett died from wounds received while on combat operation when hostile grenade detonated.
Three Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
SP4 Gerald Reid Carr
SFC Richard Bruce Garrett
SGT Donald Kent McLean
Location of fatality: Binh Duong, South Vietnam
Place of interment: Laurel Hill Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
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SILVER STAR
POSTHUMOUS
SERGEANT FIRST CLASS RICHARD BRUCE GARRETT
7 FEBRUARY 1969
K TROOP, 3d SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Sergeant First Class Garret distinguished himself by gallantry in action while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force on 7 February 1969 while serving as the platoon leader of the 2d Platoon, Troop K, 3d Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, in the Republic of Vietnam. On this date, while he was leading a dismounted reconnaissance patrol through an area of dense vegetation, the element suddenly came upon a well-concealed enemy bunker. Immediately assuming the point man’s position, Sergeant Garrett approached the enemy fortification in order to search it. Suddenly several enemy soldiers hidden in the bunker threw two grenades at the friendly troops, wounding Sergeant Garrett. Refusing medical attention, he directed his men in an assault upon the hostile position, resulting in two enemy soldiers killed and one captured. Despite his wounds, he continued his mission with the patrol and discovered another hostile position. Rather than risk the lives of the men with him, Sergeant Garrett, with two volunteers, assaulted the enemy fortification. Before they could overrun the position, another fragmentation grenade wounded all three men. While he was calling for medical aid for his two comrades, Sergeant Garrett was mortally wounded by a second detonation. Sergeant First Class Garrett’s extraordinary courage, inspiring leadership and dedication to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
Headquarters, II Field Force Vietnam, General Orders No. 667 (March 18, 1969)