Born: about 1921
Died: July 25, 1944
Campaigns Served: Namur, Saipan, Tinian (killed)
Highest Rank Attained: Private First Class
Decorations: Purple Heart
Private Richard Brodnicki was one of the original members of Able Company. He was promoted to Private First Class on August 30, 1943, and served with the company headquarters as a line clerk. Unlike most of the clerical staff of the regiment, Brodnicki deployed to Kwajalein and fought in the battle of Namur. In the spring of 1944, he was reassigned as a rifleman to one of the front line platoons. He fought with his new squad through the battle of Saipan, and made the landing on Tinian.
In the early morning hours of July 25, 1944, a Japanese banzai attack slammed into Able Company's lines. After hours of intense fighting, the attack slackened somewhat; tanks appeared to help mop up the surviving enemy, and the Marines began to look around for wounded friends. BAR gunner Alva Perry was one who had survived unhit. He remembered where his Brodnicki had dug in the night before - but when he arrived at the hole, he found his friend lying facedown in the dirt. Perry turned the body over, and saw that his friend had been shot between the eyes. Numbly, Perry left him and carried on to the next hole.
Brodnicki' name at the American Memorial Park Court of Honor, Saipan.
Richard Brodnicki was buried in Plot 1, Row 1, Grave 6 of the Fourth Marine Division's Tinian cemetery later that day. After the war, his body was returned to his native New York for permanent burial.