Specialist Four Max Welker Pugmire, who was born April 10, 1949 and was with Company B 3/8 Infantry Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, was killed in action in the Binh Dinh province of Vietnam on October 24, 1969, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Arlin R. Pugmire, were informed Monday by the Adjutant General's Department, Washington, D.C.
"He was on combat operation," the telegram stated, "when supporting mortar fire directed at hostile forces landed in the area."
Sp/4 Pugmire enlisted in the US Army October 29, 1968 and had been in Vietnam since May, stationed in the central highlands near An Khe. His parents earlier this month received word he had been promoted to the rank of Sp/4, and had been chosen "Soldier of the Month," which carried a cash prize and three-day R and R trip to the coastal city of Ving Tao. Most recently he was again promoted to postal clerk with prospective assignment at home base of An Khe.
A graduate from Montpelier High School wih the class of 1967, Sp/4 Pugmire was valedictorian having attained a GPA of 3.896. He was active in sports, music and seminary, and was a member of the National Honor Society, Lyres Club and Spanish Club and played in the MHS band three years. He took his freshman year at Fielding High School in Paris where he was also active in extra-curricular affairs and held office of vice president of the student body. He attended grade school in St. Charles where he lived until the family moved to Montpelier.
Before enlisting in the US Army, he attended BYU in provo in 1967-68.
A son of Arlin R. and Ruth Welker Pugmire, he was born April 10, 1949 in Logan. He was a member of the LDS Church and Aaronic Priesthood.
Besides his parents of Montpelier, he is survived by two brothers and two sisters, Mrs. Doneal B. (Sherrill) Hymas of Montpelier, Mrs. William T. (RuthAnn) Marshall of Mission Viejo, California, R. Lynn Pugmire, an instructor in the English Department, University of Idaho at Moscow, and Steven L. Pugmire, a junior at Bear Lake High School; and maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Roy A. Welker of Boise.
Funeral arrangements are pending arrival of remains from Vietnam.
Available records indicate Sp/4 Pugmire was the first person still maintaining residence in Bear Lake County to have been killed in Vietnam, however six former residents lost their lives in that war.
His name is on the Vietnam Memorial wall here: