PRIVATE FIRST CLASS
BRUCE WAYNE CARTER, USMC (DECEASED)

 

Medal of Honor Citation

Bruce Wayne Carter, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam in August 1969, was born 7 May 1950, in Schenectady, New York. He received his early schooling at Queens Elementary School in Pasadena, Texas. From September 1959 until January 1960, he attended Gretna Park Elementary School in Gretna, Louisiana, and graduated from Mimosa Park Elementary School, Mimosa Park, Louisiana, in May 1962.

His education continued in Hialea, Florida, where he attended Filer Junior High and Hialea Junior High. He then attended Miami Springs Junior and High Schools (Fla.), prior to entering West Jefferson High School in Wego, Louisiana.

He left West Jefferson in June 1968 to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps at Jacksonville, Florida, on 12 August 1968. Ordered to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina, he completed recruit training with the 3d Recruit Training Battalion in October 1968, and individual combat training with the 1st Infantry Training Battalion at the Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the following December. Promoted to private first class, 1 January 1969, he attended the Vietnamese Language Course at Monterey, California, until March.

Ordered to the Republic of Vietnam in April 1969, he served as a radio operator/radio man with Company H, 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, 3d Marine Division. On 7 August 1969, while participating in combat north of Vandegrift Combat Base, Quang Tri Province, he was killed in action.

His medals and decorations include: the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with one bronze star, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. 

Vietnam War 1965-1973 Medal of Honor