THE WALL OF FACES

Remembered by Patsy Smith.

John is buried at Evergreen Hill Cemetery in Vanderbilt, MI. BSM PH

I loved my uncle as my parents told me about him.. i wont to know who killed him with friendly fire.. and ask them why..why they couldnt shoot into to air or around someone else not at my uncle.

John and I were classmates in NCOC school at Ft. Benning. I remember John as being a serious student and family man, not as wild and crazy as the rest of us. My heart goes out to his family. Knowing John only the short time that I did, I know they must grieve deeply over his loss. Rest in peace, John. Your friends and family will always remember you.

I went to Michigan Tech-Soo Branch with John, but we weren't close there. He tapped me on the shoulder as we stood in line to be inducted into the Army at Fort Wayne in Detroit in 1967. We entered the Army one serial number apart. We did basic training together, and we got to be friends. He cried the day he learned he was going to be a father. He loved his family so much. He was as good a person as I have ever known, a far better soldier than me. I found his name on a KIA list in Stars & Stripes after I got to 'Nam, and cried. What a waste. What a terrible waste. I think about him, and about all the others, more often than you might think. I think about the family members he left behind who never knew him. Know that it was a privilege to have known John, that the good things you have heard about him are all true and that he cared deeply about you.