Valley Patriot Newspaper Honor Hero Veteran Bruce Arnold Salvucci at Annual BASH

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Valley Patriot Hero Veteran Award Winner Bruce Arnold Salvucci

10847892_956467251049281_1300638984329813634_n(3-22-15) The Valley Patriot newspaper gave away one Hero Veteran Award at their annual BASH on Friday to WCCM radio legend Bruce Arnold Salvucci. The Award was presented by Massachusetts Secretary of Veterans Services Francisco Urena who himself is a 2014 winner of the Valley Patriot Hero Veteran Award. Urena presented the award to Bruce’s wife and children at the Valley Patriot’s 11th Anniversary BASH on March 20, 2015.

Radio Legend Bruce Arnold Salvucci may be most widely known for his decades on WCCM radio for shows like Purely Personal, The Hot Line Program, and as sidekick to our good friend Ronnie Ford who passed away two years ago. But what most people may not know is that Bruce Arnold was also a veteran.

By his own admission, Bruce Arnold has only once ever talked publicly about his experiences as a human guinea pig while serving in the army as part of Operation Hardtack, Joint Task Force Seven… the Atomic bomb testing site. That one time in his entire life that he talked about his harrowing ordeal was on the Paying Attention radio program in the year 2,000 with Tom Duggan who somehow…. the way only Tommy can do… got him to open up live on the air.

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Valley Patriot publisher Tom Duggan, Massachusetts Secretary of Veterans Services Francisco and Lenora Salvucci the wife of Bruce Arnold.

Tom has said many times since then, that it was one of the most riveting stories he has ever heard on or off the radio.

Bruce Arnold enlisted in the Army in October, of 1956…..and graduated as a Broadcast Specialist.

He was assigned to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina for duty with the Post Public Information Office  for the 18th Airborne Corps and the 82nd Airborne Division with the Fort Bragg Radio and Television Dept.

From August 57 to August 58 :   he was Stationed on Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands still with Armed Forces Radio at Station WXLE…..as Program Director, he was also stationed at the Army Pictorial Center in Long Island, NY producing and directing army training films, narrating and some acting. Bruce Arnold was discharged on October 10, 1959.  PFC, SP5

Bruce could not be with us at the BASH but his family did attend to receive his award.

Bruce Arnold is not only loved for his many years on radio helping people and sharing his gifts on the air, but for his amazing sacrifices as a member if the United States Army… as well as his love for the army being so strong that he only once in his life talked publicly about his ordeal, because he once explained, he didn’t want what happened to taint the honor of the men and women if the US Army.