Bruce K. Berger, PhD, professor emeritus, University of Alabama, is the author of Fragments: The Long Coming Home from Vietnam, winner of the 2021 Gold Medal for Best Poetry Book by the Military Writers Society of America. He served in the US Army from 1969 to 1971, including one year in Vietnam, where he worked in the Casualty Branch of the 101st Airborne Division in Phu Bai. He wrote hundreds of sympathy letters to grieving families back home for the loss of their soldier and sometimes helped Graves Registration gather fallen brothers to take them to the mortuary. He also authored In Our Dreams We Read (2012), which explores adult illiteracy in Alabama, and two academic books about communication leadership: Gaining Influence in Public Relations (2006) and Public Relations Leaders as Sensemakers (2014).
