CHRISTOPHER BRAYBROOKE, LTCOL, USAF
Christopher Braybrooke '50
Lucky Bag
From the 1950 Lucky Bag:
CHRISTOPHER BRAYBROOKE
Boonton, New Jersey
It was the Naval Academy first and Cornell second in Kit's educational desires, and to the Academy he came. A born scholar, he seldom worried about his own academics, but invested his concern in keeping his friends from slipping along the way. Kit devoted much of his time to athletics; he often came in battered and bruised from Batt Lacrosse, but still wearing his perennially nonchalant smile. Attractive women were his weakness, but a good argument excited him too. He won many of both. Sunnybrooke's success at the Academy can be traced to his thoroughness of preparation, his reliability, and his friendly and sincere personality.
CHRISTOPHER BRAYBROOKE
Boonton, New Jersey
It was the Naval Academy first and Cornell second in Kit's educational desires, and to the Academy he came. A born scholar, he seldom worried about his own academics, but invested his concern in keeping his friends from slipping along the way. Kit devoted much of his time to athletics; he often came in battered and bruised from Batt Lacrosse, but still wearing his perennially nonchalant smile. Attractive women were his weakness, but a good argument excited him too. He won many of both. Sunnybrooke's success at the Academy can be traced to his thoroughness of preparation, his reliability, and his friendly and sincere personality.
Loss
From the February 1968 issue of Shipmate:
Lt.Col. Christopher Braybrooke, USAF died in a military aircraft accident at Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, on 8 Oct. He was serving with the 773rd Tactical Airlift Squadron, 834 Air Division. A memorial service was held on 11 Nov. at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Burke, Va. A marker was erected at Arlington National Cemetery for all those aboard the aircraft who were not identified.
Lt.Col. Braybrooke was born in Hackettstown, N. J., and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1950. He completed pilot training in August 1951, and advanced pilot training at Ellington Air Force Base, Texas, where he remained until assigned to the 34th Troop Carrier Squadron which operated out of Japan, flying into Korea. He was a member of this outfit, called the "Kyushu Gypsies" from 1953-55. For the next two years he attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he received a Master's degree in 1957.
For the next six years Lt. Col. Braybrooke was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base where he was project officer on the GAM-83 among other projects. He then attended Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, and was elected to the Order of Daedalians. He was assigned to the Pentagon in Research and Development from 1964-67 where he worked on a number of projects, the most notable being the F-111 and C-5 programs. He spent the summer flying the C-130 at Sewart AFB, Tenn., then was assigned to the 773rd Tactical Airlift Squadron, Clark Field, Philippines. He was killed two weeks after his arrival, on his first mission, in the C-130 in which he was being checked out over South Vietnam.
He held the Air Force Commendation Medal, the National Defense Service Medal with one bronze star, the Korean Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with one bronze star, and the Air Force Longevity Service Award Ribbon with three bronze oak leaf clusters.
Surviving are his widow, the former Valerie Frank, of 8943 Orange Hunt Lane, Annandale, V a. 22003; a daughter Kristen, 8, and a son, Scott, 6; his parents, LtCol. and Mrs. Walter L. Braybrooke of Box 10 RD 3, Rockaway Drive, Boonton, N. J. 07005.
From Together We Served:
Lt. Col Braybrooke was the pilot of a C-130B (#61-2649) that hit 1850 feet Thon Canh Duong Mountain 15 southeast of Phu Bai, Rvn., South Vietnam en route to Danang. along with 5 aircrew and 18 US servicemen.
Remembrances
From The Wall:
proud daughter
Hi Dad, Long time, no see. My daughters are grown up now, but you have two new, tiny grandsons Nicholas and Kit. Scott named the sweet one after you! He says he's as gentle and polite as you were, raising his tiny hand when he wants attention. Nicholas is the rowdy one who yells a lot. I wish you could see them and hold them. You would've been such a happy Grandad. I'm glad I was just old enough to know you as a happy Daddy. I wish it had been longer than 8 1/2 years. I was just getting good at the 'wrapping-Daddy-around-my-little-finger' when you were killed. I set the dinner table for you for over a year, and Scott waited every night out on the steps for you to come home. Mom must have suffered so much from losing the best man she'd ever known and loved, but she never showed it. She never, ever, got over losing you. I don't think any of us has. Not a day goes by that I don't think of you. And miss you. And whenever I hear "Taps", I just cry and cry for the Daddy I knew and the Daddy I needed, but is dead. I loved you then, I love you still, Daddy's girl Kristen Braybrooke, November 22, 1999, [email protected]
From Wall of Faces:
My grandfather died when my mom was eight years old. I never got to meet him, but his loss has affected our family ever since. I hope today is the last day anyone's loved one will be lost to war. 3/28/13
Photographs
From the February 1968 issue of Shipmate.
Other Information
He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Memorials
Kit is among those names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. As his loss was not due directly to hostile action, though, he does not appear in the Vietnam War section of the Killed In Action panel in Memorial Hall.
Related Articles
James Bowers '50, Hamilton McDowell, Jr. '50, Wilbur Spradling, Jr. '50, James Wills, Jr. '50, Edward Hotz, Jr. '50, Cedric Peterson, Jr. '50, Lorenzo Daleo '50, and George Duncan, Jr. '50 were also graduated from pilot training class 51-E, Williams AFB, Arizona, on August 4, 1951. (Sixty-seven Naval Academy graduates completed this class.)
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
