
Valedictorian at his suburban Philadelphia high school and fifth in his class at the U.S. Military Academy, 1st Lt. David R. Bernstein had the intelligence and ambition to do anything he wanted.
“What he wanted was to do something for his country,” said his father, Richard Bernstein.
Bernstein, 24, assigned to the 173rd Infantry Brigade based in Italy, was killed Oct. 18 when his patrol came under fire 160 miles north of Baghdad.
Bernstein, who grew up in Austin, Texas, and moved to Phoenixville, Pa., was “an athlete and a scholar,” his father said. He was a swim team member at West Point and enjoyed running, bicycling and competing in triathlons.
“David was a soldier,” said Richard Bernstein, who now lives in Knoxville, Tenn. “If the...