THE WALL OF FACES

Jeff and I were fraternity brothers at the University of Dubuque, in Dubuque Iowa. We both graduated in 1968 and we served in Viet Nam during the same time period. Our local fraternity, the 13ers, were a great bunch of guys and Jeff was a central part of the fraternity's success.

In writing this remembrance, I am hoping that someone (a family member, college classmate or childhood friend) will read this and e-mail me because there is an effort underway to honor Jeff at the University of Dubuque in 2015, the 100th anniversary of our fraternity.

Jeff's parents were my grandfathers best friends.My mother knew all the Dodges and they knew her kids.Missy treated me like her little brother.I remember we were visiting the beach house.and my brother Rick and I got to sleep in Jeff's room.He told us stories and we laughed till we fell asleep.I still remember that night 50yrs later,i always will.

I grew up with Jeff and for years we were the best of childhood friends; we went to church together, had near weekly “sleepovers”, made annual treks to the circus at Madison Square Garden, and in the summer there were Jones Beach outings and a week or two stay with him and his family at their Connecticut shore summer home. We played tennis and bowled together and made a formidable duo in “flies up” at our elementary school- God, how he could send that Spaldeen ball into the “upper decks”. After high school our paths , as they so often do, drifted apart, not only in terms of distance and contact, but “philosophically” as well in those highly polarized times. Nearly forty years have elapsed since that fateful April day, but I have carried the memories of him and our youth together all that time- he was a great friend, a great “kid” and no doubt a fine young man. To all Jeff’s family, both here and gone, my ashamedly belated condolences. Michael Lebhar

SGT. DODGE KILLED IN VIETNAM
DUE TO RETURN, WED IN WEEK

Sgt. Jeffrey Bruns Dodge, a 23-year-old Army engineer has become Yonkers' 22d Vietnam fatality only a week before he was due to be rotated home.
Sgt. Dodge, who lived at 34 Hillcrest Ave., had planned to marry Joanne Hannon of Cortland, N.Y. in June.
Sgt. Dodge, a 1968 graduate of Dubuque (Iowan) University, enlisted in the Army in October 1968. He was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., until April 1969, when he was sent to Lai Khe in Vietnam.
Sgt. Dodge signed up to extend his stay in Vietnam rather than come home, take his 30-day furlough and then return to finish his tour of duty.
The young serviceman was scheduled to come home Monday, according to the family, and remained in Vietnam because he thought he was headed there to train the Vietnamese soldiers.
Henry Dodge, a brother, who is himself a Vietnam veteran, said that Jeffrey was "dedicated to the war effort. He believed in it." Miss Hannon added that her fiance was "more on the constructive end," building bridges and power lines.
Sgt. Dodge had shipped his gear home and was scheduled to return at the start of May. His family was notified of his death last Saturday. He died in a rocket attack.
Sgt. Dodge was born in Bronxville on Dec. 1, 1946, and attended School 13, Hawthorne Junior High School and Yonkers High School where he earned letters in swimming and tennis. At Dubuque University, from which he held a B.S. in mathematics and physics, he was captain of the tennis team.
Sgt. Dodge is survived by his parents, Henry Temple Dodge and Marie Bruns Dodge; a brother, Henry T. (Pete) of Rosemont, Minn; two sisters, Mrs. Dean (Cynthia) Abbot of Ossining, and Mrs. John (Melissa) Reinberger of Yonkers; two nieces, and a nephew.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete but a Mass of the Resurrection as yet unscheduled, will be offered at St. Peter's Church where Sgt. Dodge converted to Catholicism last Christmas Eve. He had formerly been a member of St. Andrews Episcopal Church.

I still have the last letter you wrote to me. I was at your base, B Company, 168th Combat Engineers, when I was with the 1st Cav Div., almost exactly 6 months after the date of your death. I know that God has a special place in heaven for those soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and died in that awful place 12,000 miles from home. You were my roommate in September 1966, my first year at the University of Dubuque. We were both born in the same year, in the same month, exactly one week apart, you being 7 days older then I. I was at Fort Polk Louisiana, preparing to go to Vietnam, when I got the telegram telling me to call your home in Yonkers and I thought it was you calling to speak to me. I figured it was one of your practicle jokes since it said it was from some general in New York. I came home, you didn't. It has been 33 years and it still hurts, but I know I will see you again.