Bellflower Soldier
Returns From army

BELLFLOWER --- (PNS) --- Sgt Dean Bright, son of Mr. and Mrs.. Dale Bright, returned home Sunday from two years of army service.  He is on terminal leave until Dec. 21, at which time he will be discharged.  He took his training as a paratrooper at Fort Benning, Ga.  Since Feb., 1046, he has been stationed with the 508th PLR [sic], at Frankfurt, Germany.

Obituary ---

Dean Bright was the son of Dale A. and Amelia Smith Bright. He married Mary Louise Bidner on December 27, 1949, in Bloomington, Illinois. She died August 26, 1999.

Survivors include two sons, Alan (Karin) Bright and Gary (Alicia) Bright, one daughter, Kathy (Jerry) Callison, and six grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, one son, Kenneth Dean Bright and three brothers.

Mr. Bright was a member of the Farmer City Masonic Lodge 710; the Bloomington Consistory, Joe Williams Post 55.; American Legion, Farmer City, the Bellflower American Legion Post 202, Woodlawn Country Club, Bellflower Lions Club the Illinois Wesleyan Alumni Association.

[The Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL) - Sunday, March 10, 2002]

[courtesy of Bob & Nancy Cannon]

Pvt Bright was transferred from the 11th Replacement Depot to Company H, 508th PIR on 10 August 1944.

He was wounded in action in Holland on 21 September 1944.  Evacuated to a field hospital, Pvt Bright was unable to rejoin the company until 12 February 1945.

His military decorations include the Purple Heart and the Bronze Service Arrowhead device for Holland campaign and Airborne operations