1933: Birth in October in Philadlephia. The son of Anna Rose Collins (Oct. 29, 1904–Nov. 10, 1949) and Leonard Anthony Bracken (Dec. 25, 1900–Dec. 3, 1961), while the family was living in Glenside, Pennsylvania.
1936: Tony with his father Len Bracken Sr. at their Glenside home.
1943–1944: Attended Glenside Weldon School.
1945–1946: Attended Henry H. Houston Elementary School in Mount Airy.
1945–1948: Attended Chestnut Hill Academy through ninth grade
circa 1946–47: Worked as a ball boy for tennis tournaments at the Philadelphia Cricket Club in Chestnut Hill.
1948: Photograph with Tony, his sister Susan and their father Len Bracken Sr. on May 31, at Chestnut Hill Academy’s Blue & Blue Field Day—Tony was captain of the Dark Blue team.
1949: Death of his mother Anna on Nov. 10 from a heart attack; buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Philadelphia.
1948–1951: Attended William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia.
1950: Worked at an ice cream parlor in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
1951–1955: Attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
1951: Photograph of Tony and his father Len Bracken Sr. in Annapolis.
1955: Worked with his father in the summer paving the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
1955: Attended flight school at Naval Air Station Whiting Field near Pensacola. Learned to fly on North American Aviation T-6 Texan aircraft. He earned his “wings,” becoming a naval aviator, in November 1956.
1956–1959: His first assignment was in Iceland as a long-range patrol pilot, flying the Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune to numerous destinations in Europe with Patrol Squadron 16, known as VP-16, which was based in Jacksonville. He entered the “Realm of the Arctic Circle” just after officially becoming a lieutenant (junior grade) while piloting a P2V Neptune in December 1956. His second deployment with the VP-16 squadron was to Morocco and Spain.
1959–1960: May 1959 to August 1960. He transitioned to carrier-based aviation on his second assignment with Fleet Air Support Squadron 3 (FASron 3), based out of Norfolk, flying Grumman C-1 Traders to carriers in the Atlantic Ocean, delivering mail and cargo, as well as transporting personnel.
1959: Married Martha Ella Dobarzynski in May at Saint Edward’s Catholic Chapel on Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
1959: June honeymoon at St. Simons Island in Georgia. The newlyweds stayed at the King and Prince Hotel.
1960: As part of a USS Wasp (CV-18) “mercy mission” to the waters off the Congo, starting off for the South Atlantic in mid-July, Bracken was the first to fly into the strife-torn, newly independent country. He was chosen for his role to fly in and establish a liaison because of his French language skills. The United States would eventually install Mobuto Sese Seke after the western powers, likely Belgium, assassinated Patrice Lumumba.
1960: September 1960 to June 1962, Bracken was transferred to the Naval Intelligence School in Washington, D.C., where he would also become a qualified Russian language interpreter and translator.
1961: January, birth of son Leonard at Andrews Air Force Base.
1962–1964: June 1962 to June 1964, stationed at the American Embassy Moscow as assistant naval attaché. His work drew the ire of the Soviet government. Accusations of improper behavior involving observation of Russian military programs resulted in tit-for-tat travel restrictions of U.S. and Russian diplomats in Moscow and Washington. Some of these incidents were the subject of articles in the New York Times and other newspapers. The Associated Press photographed Bracken in an overcoat and fedora at the Copenhagen airport and labeled him “an American spy” while erroneously reporting that he had been declared persona non grata.
1964: Associated Press photograph of Tony Bracken in Copenhagen, April 10.
Bracken traveled extensively during this time, including a trip into Iran with the first CIA station chief in Moscow, Naval Attaché Paul Garbler.
1964: June to August, stationed at Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
1964: September to December. Stationed at Norfolk Naval Air Station with the Fleet Airborne Electronics Training Unit (FAETU).
1965: January to March. Stationed at Key West Naval Air Station with Sea Control Squadron 30 (VS-30) for training on Grumman S-2 Tracker twin-engine antisubmarine aircraft. The squadron was nicknamed the “Diamondcutters” for its ability to train pilots.
1965–1966: April 1965 to May 1966. Stationed at Naval Air Station Norfolk with Anti-Submarine Squadron 26 (VS-26), the “Lucky Tigers,” whose patch shows a tiger’s head eating a sub.
1966–1967: June 1966 to May 1967. Stationed at Naval Air Station Quonset Point with Sea Control squadron 31 (VS-31), the “Top Cats,” an air antisubmarine squadron whose patch depicts a cat in the clouds swatting a sub with its paw. Bracken would later become the commanding officer of this squadron.
1967: June to October. Stationed at Key West Naval Air Station as an instructor with VS- 30. Engine failure led to Bracken navigating his plane into a pond to soften the landing.
1967–1969: Neck surgeries at Bethesda Naval Hospital and convalescence in Key West.
1969: February to September. Returned to VS-30 in Key West as an instructor.
1969: September 1969 to March 1970, special assignment in Athens, Greece. Officer in Charge of the Mobile Training Team 3-70, Joint United States Military Assistance Group (JUSMAG).
1970: March to April. Key West Wing.
1970: April to October. Naval Air Station Quonset Point in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
1970–1971: October 1970 to February 1971. Assigned to VS-30 in Key West for training.
1971–1973: February 1971 to August 1973. Stationed at Naval Air Station Quonset Point, first as the executive officer and then the commanding officer VS-31. Reader’s Digest reported from the U.S.S. Intrepid in March 1973 on a patrol mission during which Bracken successfully located a Russian submarine.
1973: September to December. Completed helicopter pilot training at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, California.
1974–1975: January 1974 to June 1975. Based out of NAS North Island, served as commander of the West Coast based Carrier Anti-Submarine Air Reserve Group 80 (CVSGR-80), which comprised six squadrons.
1975–1977: From July 1975 to June 1976, completed a course of study at the National War College in Washington, D.C., which included travel to Africa and Japan. From July 1976 to June 1977, attended the Defense Intelligence School and Russian refresher course at the Department of State Language School. Bracken simultaneously earned a master of science degree in international relations at George Washington University. His thesis was on leadership succession patterns in the Soviet Union.
1976: Official photograph of Tony Bracken with captain stripes.
1977–1979: June 1977 to June 1979. Stationed at the American Embassy Moscow as naval attaché, where he was the official U.S Navy liaison to the USSR. He was a member of the U.S. delegation for navy-to-navy protocols for the prevention of incidents on the high seas and traveled extensively in the USSR as a naval observer. He played a key role in the Soviet rescue of a U.S. military aircraft that crashed in the Bering Sea in October 1978 off the Kamchatka Peninsula. Bypassing normal protocols, Bracken communicated the need for emergency assistance directly to the Russian chief of naval operations, thus saving precious time. Ten U.S. airmen were rescued by a Soviet fishing trawler after 12 hours in the freezing water (see Adak: The Rescue of Alfa Foxtrot 586 by Andrew C.A. Jampoler; Naval Institute Press, 2011).
For his service on this tour, he was awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal: “By virtue of frequent travel and keen powers of observation he dramatically enhanced the accumulation of high priority information about many aspects of the enigmatic Soviet society,” the text accompanying the award said. “More specifically, his knowledge of the Soviet Navy enabled him to interpret major new Soviet initiatives in this area.”
1979: Martha and Tony Bracken in Leningrad.
1979–1980: August 1979 to May 1980, head the Nuclear Negotiations Branch of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, where he was a planner for strategic treaties with the USSR. He was the representative to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for SALT II and other agreements. Bracken was awarded the Legion of Merit Medal for his “unique insight into Soviet motivations” as the principal Navy advisor on several nuclear arms negotiations. “His superior intellect and clarity of expression contributed significantly to the mission of the Strategic and Theater Nuclear Warfare Division during a period encompassing international events of historic importance,” the text accompanying the medal said.
1980–1983: July 1980 to October 1983. Worked in Virginia for TRW, Inc., Government Systems Division as a project engineer, managing six subcontractors conducting analyses of fleet operational efficiency. He was the technical manager for an award-winning proposal for $6 million.
1983–1995: October 1983 to October 1995. Worked for Sippican, Inc. in Marion, Massachusetts. Bracken was the vice president of marketing from 1987 to 1989 and the director of marketing from 1983 to 1987, where he was responsible for new business development, administration, advertising, research, trade shows, joint ventures and the company’s sales representative network. The overseas sales organization that he established more than doubled the company’s foreign sales. Bracken negotiated and coordinated manufacturing licensing agreements with Great Britain and Japan. He set up the company’s Washington, D.C., office to track and support contracts with government agencies and Capitol Hill.
1997–2005: Served on the executive committee of the Washington Metropolitan Golf Association, including as treasurer—a volunteer position. Officiated and conducted tournaments for the U.S. Golf Association in the Washington area.
1999–2000: Bracken researched and wrote 12 monthly articles for the Lake Barcroft Newsletter tracing the fifty-year history of the community.
2001: Published Lake Barcroft History, a book based on his newsletter articles and photographs commissioned by Stuart Finley. Copies were sold through the Lake Barcroft Woman’s Club, generating several thousand dollars for the club’s charities.
2001–2008: Appointed by the Commonwealth of Virginia as one of three trustees to the Lake Barcroft Watershed Improvement District (WID), a volunteer position. Bracken assumed duties of treasurer for the WID, which is a governmental subdivision exercising public powers to maintain and operate the Lake Barcroft Dam and the lake’s water resource.
2009–2016: Volunteer supporting the local Neighborhood Watch organization by conducting patrols.
2013–2016: Volunteer at Lake Barcroft Villages, an organization to help seniors remain in their homes.
2014: Bracken received a distinguished service award from the Fairfax County Historical Society for his 2001 book, Lake Barcroft History.
2015–2018: Bracken had a heart valve operation in December 2015 and a laminectomy in September 2016. Adverse effects from anesthesia were noted following both operations and his health began to decline. The Brackens moved to The Kensington Falls Church in March 2017 where they received excellent care. They returned home for day visits from time to time. Martha passed away on August 3, 2018, and Tony followed 45 days later, on September 25, as a result of heart congestion. At Martha’s funeral and in subsequent days, family, friends, military colleagues and neighbors paid visits to Tony. His funeral was at Queen of Apostles Catholic Church and he was buried with Martha at Arlington Cemetery.
