Allen Royal Bradford

Age: 21
Date of Birth: 1/1/1947
From: Liberal, Kansas
Marital Status: Single

Corporal, E-4, Regular Army
Pay grade at loss E-3. Posthumous promotion

Military Occupation Specialty: 11B – Infantryman
Enlistment Date – 04/10/1967
Length of Service – One year and one month

His tour began on September 7, 1967
Casualty was on May 7, 1968 (243 days in Vietnam)
Casualty Code – A2-I-7
Ground Casualty
Hostile – Died of Wounds, Misadventure
Place of casualty – Kontum Province, Dak To District
Approximately nine kilometers north of Dak To basecamp.

Allen R. Bradford was killed in action by friendly fire when he was occupying a observation position outside of his company perimeter. A U.S. Air Force forward air controller light aircraft mistakenly identified Bradford’s two-man position as an NVA element and engaged the position with 40mm buckshot rounds. Both soldiers in the position were wounded in this event. A medevac helicopter evacuated both severely wounded men, but Bradford succumbed to his wounds at the 71st Evacuation Hospital at 220 hours on May 7th, 1968.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall
Panel 56E Line 20

CPL Allen R. Bradford’s decorations.

Top row (Badges) – Combat Infantry Badge
Middle row – left to right (Individual Awards) – Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Bottom row (Unit Awards) – Presidential Unit Citation, Republic of Vietnam RVN Gallantry Cross Unit Citation

Biography

Allen Royal Bradford was born on January 1st, 1947. He was the first of four children (Allen, Edwina, Jim, Merl) born to Edwin & Alice Bradford. Edwin was employed by the Paul W. Light Lumber Company, and Alice worked for Southwest Medical Center until her retirement in 1986.

Allen graduated from Liberal High School in Liberal, Kansas. Class of 1965. Before enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1967, he attended Southwestern College where, among other studies and activities, he featured in the Campus Players’ production of Teahouse of the August Moon.

Services

Corporal Bradford’s remains were escorted to his hometown of Liberal, Kansas by Specialist Fifth Class Raymond J. Kenney. He was buried at the Liberal Cemetery in Liberal, Kansas on May 21st, 1968. The ceremony took place at 1400 hours and full military honors were performed by a team from Ft. Riley.

Additional information

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Wall of Faces – https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/5223/ALLEN-R-BRADFORD/