Sp-6 Charles J. Crawford, Jr. HQ/1/502, 101st ABN DIV,  KIA 9 Feb 68, Quang Tri

RIP

 My college classmates:

First Lieutenant Charlie Hymers, 1st Aviation Brigade, 11th Aviation Battalion, 12th Aviation Group, 128th Aviation Company, KIA 4 Feb 67, Vinh Binh Province.

Captain Gerald Winch,  25th Infantry Division, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, Headquarters Company, KIA 15 Mar 1968, Binh Duong Province

My classmate from Infantry Officer and Airborne Courses:

First Lieutenant Michael Sudborough,  25th Infantry Division, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry, C Company, KIA 21 Mar 1967, Plei Trap Valley One Niner Battle, South Vietnam, Kontum province

Theodor Van Skiles (Teddy) is the only friend I knew who was killed in Viet Nam. We lived in the same neighborhood and went to the same church growing up in Houston, Texas.  He was 22 years old, an Army Warrant Officer, and died in a helicopter crash two weeks after arriving on August 31, 1969 in Long An Province, South Vietnam – casualty date, September 17, 1969.

Your Memorial Day reminder and comments reminded me of my childhood friend who never got to live his full life. Thank you.

Far too many killed in action to list, May all who unnecessarily lost their lives in unnecessary wars rest in peace. And may all who returned with PTSD and killed themselves be remembered on this day as well. And also bless all who returned maimed or messed up and who tragically are among the homeless today.

 Bob,

How true.  Several of my friends from Viet Nam drank themselves to death.  Another put a bullet in his head.  Eric Bogle wrote a fine song about war.  Listen to it - And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.

Dick, one of my favorite songs of all time. And, while fortunately, many other artists covered it so that its cogent message reached a wider audience, Bogle’s version is the one I listen to frequently when I am in a mood to tear up or feel shame. Equally as stirring is his No Mans Land covered by many others as the Green Fields of France or just Willie McBride. I usually listen to them along with with Buffy St. Marie’s Universal Soldier and Phil Och’s I Aint a Marching Anymore and White Boots Marching In a Yellow Land. I have a long post-war folky history.