John Bruch IV (third from left) is in uniform during his commission as an aviation officer in the US Army in the Lee Chapel at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, VA. Professor Paul Youngman (far left), a retired Army captain who administered his oath and was his academic advisor, presented the award. Standing next to him are his proud parents, John Bruch III and Laurie Bruch.

MUNCY – On May 22, 2014 John L. Bruch, IV graduated from college and was commissioned the same day as an aviation officer in the U.S. Army. Bruch earned a BA from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, VA with a double major in German and American history. He was a Dean’s List student, member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity and Army ROTC cadet as a member of the Marshall-New Market Battalion of the Virginia Military Institute under a cross-campus program between Washington & Lee and VMI.

Bruch, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve, has been assigned to the 29th Combat Aviation Brigade of the 29th Division of the Maryland Army National Guard. Later this year, he will report to officer basic training followed by flight school. In 2013, he graduated from the U.S. Army Basic Airborne School at Fort Benning, GA. Bruch is a 2010 graduate of St. Paul’s School, Brooklandville, MD.

He is the son of Mr. & Mrs. John L. Bruch, III of Baltimore MD, grandson of Mrs. John L. Bruch, Jr. and the late John L. Bruch, Jr. of Muncy.

His grandfather, the late John L. Bruch, Jr. was a First Lieutenant B-24 pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He served from January 1942 to November of 1945 when he was discharged, and completed his college education after the war.