LTC. Harry Alfred Brizee-US Army(RET.)

LTC. Harry Alfred Brizee-US Army (RET.) passed on Monday, September 24, 2012 at his residence in Annandale, VA. He was born on December 26, 1931 in Twin Falls, Idaho to the late Harry A. Brizee Sr. and Lucile Cartwright Brizee. He attended schools in Twin Falls until his father’s death in 1942, and his mother took a job on a cattle ranch teaching at a one room school where Harry and his two brothers became students. After his mother’s remarriage, the family moved to a farm on the Snake River, and he graduated from Buhl Idaho High School in 1949. He had joined the National Guard at age 16 and following graduation enrolled in the University of Idaho to study Forestry and obtain an Army Commission. Harry was a charter member of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and served as its chapter president during his senior year. He was also elected into Xi Sigma Pi Forestry honorary. During the summer months, he worked for the U.S. Forest Service, which included a summer as a smoke jumper in Montana.

As a distinguished military graduate in 1954, he was assigned to the 11th Airborne Division. While stationed in Germany, he met and married his first wife Veronika (Niky) Braun who died in 1968. He was married to Paula Hudson Brizee in 1969 and celebrated the birth of his only child, Allen, in 1970. His marriage to Paula ended in divorce in 1994.

During his Army career, he served in Germany; Korea; Vietnam; and England; as well as at FT Benning, GA; FT Campbell, KY; and he served as Legislative Liaison in Washington, DC. His military awards include two awards of the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, three awards of the Army Commendation medal, and the Senior Parachute Badge.

After retiring from the Army in 1976, he took a position at Melwood Training Center in Upper Marlboro, MD. When he retired from this organization in 1999, he was the Director of Service Contracts with responsibility for over 600 employees, most of them individuals with a developmental disability working on government contracts.

Harry’s hobbies included gardening, Civil War history, and wildlife.

Harry is survived by his devoted and loving wife, Rebecca Wright Brizee; his son, Assistant Professor Harry Allen Brizee, PhD of Baltimore and his fiancé, Assistant Professor Elizabeth Angeli, PhD; his step-daughter, Abigail Rawlins, and her husband, Lt. Steve Rawlins currently deployed with the USMC; step-grandchildren, Ella, Steve Jr., and Violet; brothers Col. Harold Brizee US Army (Ret) and wife Patti of Boise, ID and their daughter, Becky; Robert Brizee, PhD and wife Adrienne of Wenatchee, WA and children, Jody and Joy.

Donations may be made in his memory to the American Freedom Foundation online at americanfreedomfoundation.org or to the Vietnam Veterans of America at vva.org. Flowers may be sent to Demaine Funeral Home in North Springfield, VA.

Family will receive friends at Demaine Funeral Home, 5308 Backlick Rd., North Springfield, VA 22151, on Thursday, September 27, from 5:00 to 8:00 PM where funeral services will be held on Friday, September 28, 10:00 AM. Interment will be held at Arlington National Cemetery on a date yet to be determined.