FONTANA, CA, USA U.S. Army SGT, CO B, 3D BN GSAB, 10TH AVIATION REGIMENT, (TF CENTAUR), FORT DRUM, NY KUNAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN 05/05/2006
Sergeant Bryan Allen Brewster, 24, of Fontana, California, was involved in ROTC at Fontana High School, where he graduated in 2000. He enlisted in the Army at 18. In only three years, he achieved the rank of sergeant and easily earned the trust and loyalty of the 30 men in his unit.
When Bryan was transferred from the 101st Airborne Division at Ft. Campbell, Ky., to Ft. Drum, 30 of his helicopter mechanics volunteered to transfer with him. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry).
Bryan is remembered for his chipper personality, smiling, horsing around with fellow soldiers, puckering his lips playfully and rappelling down jagged cliffs.
His childhood friend, Jessica De La Cruz, 24, remembers the first time she met Bryan. “I was sitting in seventh-grade class and he put this fake, rubber hand on my shoulder. He was always messing around, having fun.”
Jeff Jackson, 24, said he and Sgt. Brewster were childhood buddies and mischievous kids who would play video games until the wee hours and play with firecrackers.
Bryan celebrated his 21st birthday in Afghanistan and his 22nd in Iraq. He turned 24 a week before he died. He was on his third combat tour in the Middle East in Afghanistan when he and nine others were killed May 5, 2006 east of Abad, Afghanistan, in the Kunar province, when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed during combat operations.
His father, Louis Brewster, remembered him as a good boy and an honorable man who was occasionally a mischief-maker. The elder Brewster also spoke of his son’s courage and the influence of the two most important women in his life: his mother, Linda Brewster, and his wife and high school sweetheart, Kati Brewster.
Bryan was honored posthumously with a Bronze Star and an Air Medal for his service in Afghanistan.