DOB/DOD: July 24, 1984 (San Pedro Sula, Honduras) – December 12, 2003; 19 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Westford Road; Stafford Springs
ENLISTMENT: July 11, 2001 [two weeks before his 18th birthday]
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 13F; Fire Support Specialist
UNIT: Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division; Fort Bragg, North Carolina
FAMILY: Born to William E. (1947-) and Meredith E. Monti Braun (1954-). One sister, Juliana “Julie” Braun Parrinello (1987-).
DECORATIONS: Awarded the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terror Medal (Expeditionary), Global War on Terror Medal (Service), Army Service Ribbon, Parachutist Badge (Basic), Army Presidential Unit Citation, Valorous Unit Medal, and the Rifle Expert Marksman Badge.
CIRCUMSTANCES: Died from a non-hostile gunshot wound in Baghdad. In a May 14, 2006 article in the Hartford Courant, it was reported at that point that Private First Class Braun was the only confirmed suicide by a Connecticut soldier. His father, William Braun, told the paper that he didn’t have a full explanation of what happened to Jeffrey but said, “I’ve chosen not to pursue it or question it. It’s over and done with.”
OTHER: Jeffrey’s father shared this: “Jeffrey was a fun-loving yet sensitive person who always gave more than he took. It was a Town Selectman who was an Army veteran who thought the service was a good idea despite Jeffrey’s friends telling him he was smart and should go to college. While in high school, Jeffrey was a middle-distance runner and was in the school choir. He served in a forward observer role in Iraq and was just months away from coming home. A children’s home in his name is in El Progresso, Honduras.” [Braun Cottage]
Stafford High School; Class of 2002.
From FindAGrave.com
By Roselyn Tantraphol and Lizabeth Hall
Jeffrey Braun was raised in this north-central Connecticut town, a long way from his native Honduras. When he died last week, he was in Iraq, far from both the places he had known as home.
But at 19, even as he was serving in the U.S. Army and helping to fight a war, Braun was thinking about building an orphanage back in the country where he had been adopted.
The hundreds who attended Braun’s funeral Friday learned that Meredith and William Braun, who adopted the boy born in the village of San Pedro Sula, will see that the orphanage he dreamed of is built by next December.
The Rev. Richard Forcier recounted the legacy of this 2002 Stafford High School graduate who became a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. “Jeff’s vision is so enlarged now because it’s not simply his. It’s global now,” Forcier told those at St. Edward Roman Catholic Church.
While Braun’s death thrust his accomplishments and his hopes into the spotlight, the funeral itself was quite somber.
His family declined military funeral honors. His body will be cremated, and his ashes taken to Honduras.
Brigadier General Richard Rowe of the 82nd Airborne Division spoke about Braun’s role, serving as a member of Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment in the division. Braun, he said, was a trusted and respected member of the unit. Rowe presented the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious and honorable service to William Braun.
During the homily, Forcier spoke of questions that he said hit to the core. “Questions of why,” he said. “Sometimes we have no answers — simply more questions.”
What was not in question Friday was the force of Braun’s personality. The slim, 112-pound teen was always doing his part for the underdog.
Travis Gagnon, one of his closest buddies, shared a host of stories from friends. There was the time Braun made his friend pull over the car to rescue a turtle. And there was the soccer match when the team needed a goalie. Without so much as a goalie’s shirt, Braun volunteered to fill the spot.
“He was never afraid to try something new,” Braun’s sister, Julie, a junior at the high school, said in a eulogy read by Forcier.
The red-rimmed eyes of the young and old faces in the crowd were a testament to how generous Braun was with his warm personality.
Some friends came in blue-and-white wrestling jackets, a show of camaraderie for the four-sport varsity athlete. Others looked like they were wearing black suits for the first time.
Mark Dziewa was one of the dozens who stood in the cold listening to the service on loudspeakers. Dziewa, who graduated a year after Braun, stayed through the service even though he and Braun ran in different circles at Stafford High School. “It’s the least I could do for him,” Dziewa said. “He was in the Army, and he served us and protected us. He was out on the battlefield. Standing in the cold is nothing compared to that.”
Town officials and several high-ranking state officials were on hand, including Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, and state Comptroller Nancy Wyman. Blumenthal said he has gone to each of the funerals of the seven Connecticut armed services members who have died this year in Iraq. Each of them is moving and evoking and emphasizes the sacrifice the nation is making, beginning with the individual servicemen and their families,” Blumenthal said. “They have given so much, and they are continuing to pay the price.”
Brett Toney, who had been captain of the Stafford High wrestling team, said he had talked to Braun only hours before he died. “It wasn’t like it was going to be the last time we were ever going to talk,” said Toney, a freshman at the University of Connecticut. “He said he couldn’t wait to come home. Now I’m the one who’s got to wait for him.” Braun was supposed to finish his tour and go to college, complete the next phase of his grand plan. Now, Toney will forever wonder what that plan was. In Braun’s last year at Stafford High School, the two had to write letters to themselves as part of a psychology class. The teacher was going to mail the letters back to them five years later. “I think about what’s going to happen to that letter now,” Toney said.
From the Hartford Courant August 1, 2004, and updated September 3, 2021
SOLDIER’S DREAM LIVES ON
He postponed college to join the military. When he died on December 12, he was a Private First Class in the Army, and he had just tracked down the name of a Baptist missionary who was interested in building an orphanage.
That missionary, Mike Higgins, oversees a home for neglected children run by Hope International Ministries in Tampa, Florida. Higgins said he felt “called” to take his work to a Third World country, but he had no idea where. Then, Higgins learned of a group of American missionaries building a hospital in Honduras in an area poor even by Honduran standards. The home, he decided, should be near that hospital.
Braun’s family learned of their son’s plans to build an orphanage only after his death through e-mail messages his sister Julie found. They went to Florida to meet Higgins and tour the Tampa school.
Since February, the Jeff Braun Children’s Foundation has been raising money to help Hope International build a home across from the Hospital Loma de Luz near La Ceiba, Honduras. They have had a hot dog sale and a couple of high school benefits. On August 14, a benefit soccer game is scheduled at the Stafford High School track.
But William Braun said there is still a lot of work to be done and money to be raised before the Jeff Braun Children’s Home breaks ground, which he hopes will happen within a year and be completed within five years. The needs are as basic as water and electricity.
Susan Leavitt, one of Jeff Braun’s music teachers in Stafford, also took up the cause. After retiring from teaching, Leavitt, 58, opened the Family Academy of Music in Stafford. Each year, she runs a summer acting camp, the highlight of which is a musical performed for the public at Memorial Hall. As she had done in the past, all proceeds from the performances were to be given to charity. This year, she is giving the money to Braun’s foundation.
Leavitt chose “American Heroes” as the theme of this year’s musical. Since the 12 youngsters taking part in the camp this summer are all girls, it’s been changed to “American Heroines.” The young actresses took part in researching and writing “This Land Is Your Land,” which features such influential women as Amelia Earhart, Sojourner Truth, and Susan B. Anthony.
But there is more that Leavitt hopes to do to further Braun’s vision. She has visited Higgins in Florida and plans to take a group of youths to Honduras to take part in the project. “I think of Jeff as a hero in his own right,” she said. “The fact that he had this dream for a 19-year-old — this burning desire in his heart — is pretty amazing.”
From FallenHeroesMemorial.org
“Dang Battle, you were my first real friend in basic training. We were bunk mates through basic and AIT. So many great memories. We got split up in jump school and then at Bragg. Gave each other our blood wings after our first jumps at Benning. Can still remember the day we were marching, and you and this Marine were determined not to change your course, and the Marine that outweighed you by 50lbs launched you in the other direction, almost starting a platoon throw down, ha-ha! You were such a thoughtful, caring, and tough dude. I bought myself a dart gun (confiscated at the Canadian border, ha-ha), a chess board for us to play, and a sweatshirt I still have today. We were both deployed when you passed away, but we never got to see each other. I know if you were still here, we’d still be thick as thieves. Miss you, buddy, and I still think about you. See you again one day.”
— Adam Curry
Even though we never saw a lot of each other since I was on the gun lines while together in Bravo, you always struck me as a stand-up guy. You always had those in proximity laughing and smiling. You were a kindred spirit, fully alive and always making the moment worthwhile. It broke me in two when I heard you left us, and every year, I toast you and my high school friend Chris, who passed just a few days before you in ’97. I regret not getting to know you better and look forward to seeing you when I hang my own boots up and join you in the next life. Rest easy, brother; you deserve it. ‘The greatness of each generation is always shown early by those bright young souls who depart from life so young, those who become the martyrs of the virtue of being alive.’
— Sean Hartsel
“Jeff was an extraordinary brother to have, and I was so fortunate to have been his sister for the 16 years that I knew him. He really was how everyone knew him: kind, generous, giving, caring, courageous, funny, and so much more. Jeff had a contagious smile and laughter that could always be heard from afar. He lit up any room he went into with his presence. There was never a minute when he wasn’t looking out for me and keeping a close eye to protect me from anything he saw as a threat or predator. As we both got older, we grew apart from one another for some time, only to become closer within a few months. I realized then how much my brother meant to me and how loving and caring he was. There is no word alone that can describe Jeff as the extraordinary person that he was. One thing can be sure, though, and that is that Jeff’s spirit will continue to live within me every day of my life, and I will never forget anything he has taught me, as well as the amazing times I was able to spend with him. Jeff will always look down on me from above, guiding me down the road to life. I miss you, Jeff… but I will always love you for who you were and for being the greatest brother that I could ever have.”
— Julie Braun
Private First Class Braun is buried in St. Edward Cemetery, 22 W. Stafford Road, Stafford Springs, Connecticut; Section HO, Lot 47. Photos by Jeff DeWitt.
