Hometown: Ladysmith, WI
Branch: U.S. Army
Unit: D Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division
Military Honors: Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Army Commendation Medal, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: August 3, 1971 - KIA in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam
Age: 20 
Conflict: Vietnam War, 1959-1975

Born on November 8, 1950, Robert “Bobby” Pulaski grew up in the small town of Ladysmith, in northern Wisconsin on the Flambeau River. After graduating from high school, he moved to Mukwonago, near the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for a job as a welder at Generac Corporation.

In 1969, Pulaski was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Thua Thien Province in South Vietnam (officially, the Republic of Vietnam or RVN). Thua Thein was one of the northernmost provinces in the RVN and was just 30 miles from the demarcation line between North and South.

Serving with D Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, Pulaski rose to the rank of Sergeant.

On August 3, 1971, he was on patrol with a squad west of Phu Bai Combat Base—just south of the ancient city of Huế—picking through debris left from the clearing of a patrol base when there was a sudden explosion. Sgt. Pulaski had tripped an enemy booby-trap. Another member of the squad and close friend of Pulaski, Dwight Reiland, recounts the fateful incident to author James Ebert in the book A Life in the Year: The American Infantryman in Vietnam.

Evidently, the enemy stole some of our explosives or something. I was just in back of him and I saw where the explosion took place, but I didn’t see Bob at the time. Anyhow, I go up to where I thought he should be, and there he was on the other side of a log probably fifteen or twenty feet away…He was unconscious, but he was trying to breathe.

Braving enemy fire, the squad loaded Sgt. Pulaski onto a stretcher and made their way to a resupply helicopter, fearing the worst. Pulaski was flown to a military hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. He was 20 years old. According to his family, Robert was just weeks away from the end of his tour.

Sgt. Robert A. Pulaski was awarded the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Army Commendation Medal, and Purple Heart. He is honored at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., where his name is inscribed on Panel 3W, Line 122.

Sources
Details submitted by Ron Becker (Sgt. Pulaski’s stepbrother) and David Estes
Honor States: Robert Allen Pulaski
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund: Robert Allan Pulaski
The Virtual Wall: Robert Allan Pulaski
Wisconsin State Journal, August 14, 1971: Ladysmith Soldier Killed in Vietnam
Waukesha Daily Freeman: August 9, 1971: Pfc. Robert Allan Pulaski
A Life in a Year: The American Infantryman in Vietnam by James Ebert
Burial Site: Find a Grave