'Silent pride': Pentagon scholarship recipient reflects on father's service

Credit: Sean Ryan | Date Taken: 05/15/2024
Courtney Swenson's father, retired Sgt. 1st Class Chris Braman, spent 60 hours going in and out of Pentagon wreckage to recover victims following the Sept. 11, 2001, attack. His actions in those days saved lives and set an example of duty and service that affect his daughters to this day. When Swenson thinks of her father, she is reminded of his silent, humble pride in what he did at the Pentagon and during his Army career. She doesn't take the injuries he sustained during the ordeal or his service for granted as she has grown up and benefited from Army Emergency Relief's Pentagon Victims Scholarship Program.