HOUMA, LA, USA U.S. Army SGT, B COMPANY, 2D BATTALION, 156TH INFANTRY, (TF BAGHDAD), NEW IBERIA, LA BAGHDAD, IRAQ 01/06/2005
Army Specialist Bradley J. Bergeron had been scheduled to come home on leave and wanted to ask his girlfriend to marry him. But he stayed behind so a roommate could go home for his brother’s wedding, his mother said. “That’s just the kind of person he was,” Angela Bergeron said.
Bergeron, 25, of Houma, La., died Jan. 6, 2005, by a roadside bomb in northwest Baghdad, Iraq that struck his Bradley fighting vehicle. Bergeron was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal and Combat Infantryman’s Badge for his valor.
Bergeron was a high school honor student who grew up on the bayou and graduated in 1997. Those who knew him said he was bright, witty and sweet. “He was very friendly, a person who was easy to get along with,” said teacher Pauline Fleming. “He had a quick smile, a nice wit; he was just a really nice kid.”
He graduated from South Terrebonne High School in 1997, and loved music and his car. He was a sports enthusiast who loved watching football and wrestling, working out with weights and jogging. He enjoyed listening to various styles of music wherever he was. He was a family-oriented person who loved getting together with family members and friends. Wherever he worked or visited, he made anyone he met feel they were an extension of his family. Bradley was looking forward to returning to school to further himself in his job at Bowen’s Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Inc., marrying his fiancée and starting a family when he returned from Iraq at the end of his tour of duty.
He was assigned to the Army National Guard’s 256th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized), Lafayette, Louisiana. He was in his ninth year with the Louisiana National Guard. He signed his name with the nickname “Mickey Mouse” on a poster hung in the armory.
“He loved his family, he loved his country and he never gave a second thought to what he was doing in Iraq,” his mother said.
He is survived by his fiancée, Amber Stilley of Baton Rouge; parents, Earl John Bergeron and Angela Mary Bergeron Bergeron of Houma; brother, Scott Ryan Bergeron of Houma; paternal grandparents, Earl Joseph Bergeron and Betty Pellegrin Bergeron of Houma; maternal grandmother, Rita Trahan Bergeron of Houma; aunts, Becky B. Domangue of Houma, Liz B. Musso of Lafayette, Jeannie B. LeCompte of Houma, Mary B. Marcel of Bayou Black, Susan B. Martin of Chauvin and Lisa Bergeron of Houma; uncles, George Bergeron Jr. and Keith Bergeron, both of Houma.