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Radioman Third Class Bruce Allen Timmons

A colorized headshot picture of a young, White male in a high necked, leather jacket.
  • Unit: Coastal Squadron 1 Pacific Division 102
  • Service Number: 795 68 52
  • Date of Birth: July 20, 1947
  • Entered the Military: November 19, 1964
  • Date of Death: November 15, 1966
  • Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • Place of Death: Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam
  • Award(s): Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and National Defense Service Medal
  • Cemetery: Court B, Panel 72, Courts of the Missing, Honolulu Memorial. National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi
Contributed by Mrs. Alicia Lyons Laufer, Esq.
Spanish River Community High School, Boca Raton, Florida
2025/2026

Early Life

Bruce Allen Timmons was born on July 20, 1947, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Joseph Nathaniel Timmons and Ruth Ellen Timmons. He was the youngest of six children. His father and older brother, Wallace, worked on a dairy farm. His mother was a homemaker. 

The family lived on Hollywood Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a growing residential neighborhood full of people who had relocated after World War II. By the 1950s, the population had tripled, making the area Florida’s fifth-largest city.

Timmons attended North East Junior High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

A snippet of the U.S. census showing all eight members of the Timmons family.
The Timmons family living on Hollywood Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the 1950 census. National Archives and Records Administration.
A black and white headshot of a young White boy in a button-up shirt.
Bruce Allen Timmons’s in the Hurricane yearbook of North East Junior High School, 1962. Ancestry.

Homefront

By the mid-1960s, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, had become a popular spring break destination. During this time, South Florida faced resistance to the desegregation of beaches, hotels, and restaurants. Timmons’ hometown draft board was the South Broward Draft Board, which faced protests and controversy as officials appointed board members in numbers disproportionate to the population they represented. In total, Florida had only 40 Black draft board members, compared to 382 White members, even though some Florida counties had populations that were nearly 60 percent Black. 

In nearby Hialeah, the U.S. Army Reserve Center was home to the 324th General Hospital. The Navy built the facility in 1942 for Naval Air Station Richmond. The Army used it during the Vietnam War as a place where reservists assembled, maintained readiness, and then transitioned to active duty when mobilized. The facility later became home to the Miami-Dade Military Museum. 

A black and white image of several Black men in swimsuits at the beach, while White beachgoers look at them.
Civil Rights Demonstration at Fort Lauderdale’s segregated public beach, July 24, 1961. Florida Memory.
A newspaper article with the title “SS Says Too Few Negroes Serving On Draft Boards.”
The Palm Beach Post reported on the increase in Black draft board members not raising fast enough for the Selective Service System officials, May 30, 1969.
A color photograph of a Greek-style building with two stories.
The site of the U.S. Army Reserve Center during the Vietnam War. Now home to the Miami-Dade Military Museum. Miami-Dade Military Museum.

Military Experience

Bruce Allen Timmons enlisted in the U.S. Navy on November 19, 1964, in Miami, Florida. He attended recruit training at the U.S. Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois, in February 1965, where he trained as a radioman.  

From May through November 1965, Timmons was stationed at the Washington Navy Yard Naval Station. In September 1966, he departed the U.S. Naval Training Center in Bainbridge, Maryland, for Vietnam as part of the Coastal Squadron 1.  

Petty Officer Third Class Timmons served as a radioman aboard Patrol Craft Fast (PCF) 77, also known as a swift boat, on the Hue River in Vietnam. The Navy used these shallow-draft patrol vessels to move quickly on rivers and coastal waters. They were armed with machine guns and a mortar.

Timmons served aboard PCF-77 with seven other men on November 15, 1966. Their mission was to rescue a service member from PCF-21 who had gone overboard on the Hue River. During this rescue mission, a 30-foot wave struck Timmons’s PCF-77 during monsoon conditions. The wave capsized PCF-77. Three men, including Timmons, were below deck when the boat overturned. The heavy surf drowned all three men. 

A green circle with a blue border. The word ‘Coastal Squadron’ is at the top and bottom in yellow letters. There is a white number 1 in the center. In a blue diagonal line over the number, it says ‘Swift’ in red.
The patch of the Vietnam-Era Coastal Squadron 1, c.1965-1971. Swift Boat Sailors Memorial.
A black and white image of the remains of a boat with damage.
The recovered remains of PCF-77. Vietnam Magazine.

Commemoration

The Navy never recovered Radioman Third Class Bruce Allen Timmons’s remains from the Hue River in Vietnam.  The Navy classified him as missing and presumed dead, not as a result of hostile action.  The Navy awarded Timmons several medals for his service, including the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. 

Timmons is commemorated on Court B, Panel 72 of the Honolulu Memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawai’i.  

A newspaper article featuring a headshot of Timmons and the headline “Bruce A. Timmons Dies in Viet Rescue Try.”
The Miami Herald reported on the death of Bruce A. Timmons, November 23, 1966.
A typewritten report.
The Casualty Report details the incident that took Timmons’s life. Library of Congress (pwmaster_60784).
A typewritten Western Union telegraph from the government to Timmons's parents.
The Western Union telegram sent to Timmons’s parents reporting his death, November 17, 1966. Library of Congress (pwmaster_60784).

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Bruce Allen Timmons, Freedom of Information Act Record, Department of the Navy, National Archives and Records Administration – St. Louis.

Bruce Timmons. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016. Digital Images. https://www.ancestry.com.

Bureau of Naval Personnel. Radioman 3 & 2. Government Printing Office, 1961. 

Civil Rights Demonstration at Fort Lauderdale’s Segregated Public Beach. Photograph. July 24, 1961. Print Collections, Florida Memory. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/4524.

Coastal Squadron One Patch. Patch. c.1965-1971. Swift Boat Sailors Memorial. https://swiftboatsailorsmemorial.com/items/show/636. 

Combat Ship Squadron One. Casualty Information. South Vietnam: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, 1966. https://www.loc.gov/item/powmia/pwmaster_60784/.

Commander, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, Detachment One. Detailed Report of Investigation of Case 0522. Bangkok, Thailand: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, 1993. https://www.loc.gov/item/powmia/pwmaster_60800/.

Commander, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting. Narrative; Biographic/Site Report. South Vietnam: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, 1993. https://www.loc.gov/item/powmia/pwmaster_60798/. 

Florida. Broward County. 1950 U.S. Census. Digital Images. https://ancestry.com.

“It’s All Quiet On Beach Front But Police Stay At The Ready.” Hollywood Sun-Tattler [Hollywood, Florida], July 27, 1961. Newspapers.com (724857556).

“Reserves Might Learn Fate Friday.”  Hollywood Sun-Tattler [Hollywood, Florida], March 25, 1967. Newspapers.com (724742642).

“Sailor Dies, Viet Hero.” The Miami Herald [Miami, Florida], November 23, 1966. Newspapers.com (621062921).

“School Board to Sign Integration Assurance.” Hollywood Sun-Tattler [Hollywood, Florida], June 30, 1966. Newspapers.com (724893213).

“SS Says Too Few Negroes Serving on Draft Boards.”  Palm Beach Post [West Palm Beach, Florida], May 30, 1969. Newspapers.com (132481240).

“Tense Peace Holds In Pompano Beach.” New York Times [New York, New York], June 23, 1966. 

“The Vietnam Veteran – Anonymous, Wary, Silent.”  St. Petersburg Times [Tampa, Florida], November 8, 1970. Newspapers.com (317216968).

Secondary Sources

“The 1950s: It’s Where the Boys are…” Sun Sentinel [Fort Lauderdale, Florida], March 18, 2011. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2011/03/18/the-1950s-its-where-the-boys-are-as-well-as-suburbs-hotels-and-shopping/.

“About Fort Lauderdale.” Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce. Accessed October 27, 2025. https://www.ftlchamber.com/about-fort-lauderdale/.

“Bruce A. Timmons, RM3.” Swift Boat Sailors Memorial. Accessed October 27, 2025. https://swiftboatsailorsmemorial.com/exhibits/show/50sbskia/sbskia1966/brucetimmons.

“Bruce Allen Timmons.” Honor States. Accessed November 30, 2025. https://www.honorstates.org/profiles/302013/.

“Bruce Allen Timmons.” Veterans Legacy Memorial, National Cemetery Administration. Accessed February 26, 2026. https://www.vlm.cem.va.gov/BruceAllenTimmons/49722.

“From Vietnam to Desert Storm.” Miami-Dade Military Museum. Accessed October 27, 2025. https://www.miamimilitarymuseum.org/cuban-missile-crisis. 

“RM3 Bruce Allen Timmons.” American Battle Monuments Commission. Accessed October 7, 2025. https://weremember.abmc.gov/s?q=timmons&type=0&v=G.

“RM3 Bruce Allen Timmons.” Defense POW/ MIA Accounting Agency. Accessed November 30, 2025. https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000001U9UEAU.

“RM3 Bruce Allen Timmons.” Find a Grave. Accessed October 7, 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61478031/bruce-allan-timmons.

Snesko, Tony. “Cua Viet Swift Boat Rescue.” Accessed October 27, 2025. https://www.pcf45.com/cuaviet/rescue.html.  

“Timmons, Bruce Allen.” Combat Area Casualties Current File, 6/8/1956 – 1/21/1998. The National Archives and Records Administration. https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=197&mtch=1&cat=GP21&tf=F&q=Bruce+timmons&bc=sl&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=56031.

“Timmons, Bruce Allan.” POW Network. Accessed October 26, 2025. https://www.pownetwork.org/bios/t/t382.htm.

“Timmons, Bruce Allen, RM3.” Together We Served. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://navy.togetherweserved.com/usn/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=415406.

Work, Deborah. My Soul Is a Witness: A History of Black Fort Lauderdale. Walsworth Publishing Company, 2001. 


This profile was researched and created through the Researching Silent Heroes program, sponsored by the American Battle Monuments Commission.