In Memory

Tom Bridgman

Tom Bridgman



 
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06/11/15 05:13 PM #1    

Mark Slettehaugh

I believe that Tom Bridgeman may have been another soldier casualty of the Viet Nam war.  Even though he passed on years after coming home, he may have indeed been a casualty  I saw him shortly before he died and he looked so lost and depressed and most of all alone.  In HS, he was my class student council representative and was so vibrant and fun to be around with.  I only saw him that one time post high school. He really didn't recognize or remember me at all.  I still think about the war and the lies and propaganda a lot and the emotions never fully go away.   I am saddened for all of the innocent victims (domestic and foreign) of this war as well as all of the other tragic wars that we have been led into. However, I wanted to call out Tom Bridgeman's memory on this occasion.


06/12/15 09:07 AM #2    

Jeanne Cook (Klainer)

Thank you, Mark.  I was thinking the same thing and wondering how to say how I felt.  I knew Tom well, from kindergarten onward.  We raced on the playground as little kids and he was the boy I couldn't beat, and we both came here to Maine for college.  But he  stayed at Bowdoin only a short time and went to war.  Yes, I'm sure he was a casualty -- such a smart, good young man with so much to give our world.  I cannot know what he bore. A friend of mine was the Commander of all the Special Forces in Viet Nam 1969.  And he'd been an operative there back in 1963, when the Special Forces were working with the local Vietnamese, building schools and training and helping to develop a strong base for a democratic society.  When he  learned of the first arrival of the Marine's first combat troops in Da Nang, this brave man wept for all the losses that he knew would come.  I believe he wept for Tom as well.


06/12/15 01:25 PM #3    

Linda Reed (Bofenkamp)

I also knew Tom's  mother, Betty, from living around the corner from her and being a member of The Morningside Women's Club and our Theater Arts group. She was an author and I have her book of poetry.  In her 80s she was still going up to the Boundry Waters camping.   I believe Tom's father was a professor at Macalester.  What an intellegant and interesting family.  Tom lived at home and I would see him occasionally but he always averted his eyes.  Brother, Arthur became a fabulous dancer and I saw him perform at the Ordway with his wife. Betty was so proud.  George is a math wizzard and lived at home with his mother. Another gentle soul. That war caused so much loss and pain.....

 


06/18/15 12:30 AM #4    

Julie Avenson (Sigler)

I heard of the death of Tom Bridgman (no "e") at our 20th reunion.I will still miss him at our 50th.


03/16/16 08:08 AM #5    

Rolf Parsons

Tom and I were good friends in both the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. In elementary school he was brilliant, funny and fast - nobody could beat him on the playground. We enjoyed many camping trips together and he was always quick with a joke and great fun.  His mother Betty was very involved with all of Tom's friends, I remember her teaching us how to build a fire on the Morningside School playground on afternoon. I know he had a hard time his freshman year in college and came home to be drafted. I visited with him after he returned from Viet Nam and remember thinking he was older than his father - he was indeed lost to us and a casualty of the war.


03/18/16 04:59 PM #6    

Steve (First Name: Charles) Simons

I didn't know Tom well, but I do remember him as a good natured, sensitive and caring person with lots of energy who usually wore a smile.  Having barely survived seven months of combat in Vietnam myself, I have some understandanding of how Tom may have been changed by the war.  You can't take a sensitive young man from the serene and secure confines of Edina and throw him into a vicious war in a third world country and expect him to come home the same person as when he left.  In those days, the returning soldier was left totally on his own to sort out his tangled emotions from any number of horrific experiences he may have endured.  There was no debriefing or counseling offered upon their return whatsoever.  Add to that the fact that Vietnam veterans were mostly shunned by ignorant citizens of their own country, including many of the veterans from our father's generation, they quickly learned to keep their experiences and feelings to themselves.  It's certainly understandable that Tom may have felt very confused and alone.  My heart goes out to Tom's family for the loss of their precious son and brother.


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