THE WALL OF FACES

I’m not surprised that you put yourself so clearly in harm’s way to help others. I wish it weren’t so and you are such a hero - a tragic hero. Such a great representative of Foxboro, Massachusetts and Northeastern University.
I see a posting from Maile, Posted 12.7.2001 by MAILE M. DOOLEY (A DAUGHTER'S REMEMBRANCE.) born 11 days after your death and I would just like her to know that you were a great guy, one who could be absolutely depended upon to have a soldier’s back, and who would have undoubtedly been a wonderful father.
This applies to so many who were lost.

Continued -
I’m not surprised that you put yourself so clearly in harm’s way to help others. I wish it weren’t so and you are such a hero - a tragic hero. Such a great representative of Foxboro, Massachusetts and Northeastern University.
I see a posting from Maile, Posted 12.7.2001 by MAILE M. DOOLEY (A DAUGHTER'S REMEMBRANCE.) born 11 days after your death and I would just like her to know that you were a great guy, one who could be absolutely depended upon to have a soldier’s back, and who would have undoubtedly been a wonderful father.
This applies to so many who were lost.

Although I haven’t posted a remembrance until today, I have thought of you often over the years, especially on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Not only were we in Infantry OCS together at Fort Benning, GA (recently renamed Fort Moore), but also Basic Training and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Dix, NJ. Due to a mix up in the number of candidates who reported to Ft. Benning in early January 1969, we were “held over” for 3 weeks before even beginning our next level training. That’s 11 months of training, Gerry – and I admired you all the way. I learned how to deal with harassment (laugh at it) and so did you. As Tom Griffin noted, we were roommates and after all these years I think Jim Hall was in our cube as well.
You were a Northeastern University Coop student (I was a Boston College guy) who was ready for the workforce upon graduation, but we had the draft to contend with and I guess we were too busy to explore other service opportunities and ended up in the Infantry.
You took it much further after graduation and went the full measure – Airborne, Ranger, Special Forces. After all that training, there was only one place you were going - Vietnam. We had many discussions about this, but you were determined to become a Special Forces Officer and I respected you. It was rumored that after our initial stateside assignments, many in our class might be sent to Korea, where we still had something like 79,000 troops stationed and many company grade officers were set to rotate.
Eventually (by luck of the draw) I was assigned to the 7th Infantry Division, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Camp Casey, Tongduchon (TDC) [Dongducheon], South Korea, commanded by Major General Harold G. (Hal) Moore himself ("We Were Soldiers Once, and Young" - Ia Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam).
After my tour I landed at Fort Lewis in Mid-May 1971 at the same time as a plane load of Vietnam vets landed for out processing and I’m pretty sure (again- after all these years) I reunited with Tom Dahl from our class briefly who delivered the sad news that you were KIA. It wasn’t until I read on this website the details of your desperate circumstance – an ambush while acting as an advisor – so sad. Posted on 9.29.2016 BY [email protected])

Although I haven’t posted a remembrance until today, I have thought of you often over the years, especially on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Not only were we in Infantry OCS together at Fort Benning, GA (recently renamed Fort Moore), but also Basic Training and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Dix, NJ. Due to a mix up in the number of candidates who reported to Ft. Benning in early January 1969, we were “held over” for 3 weeks before even beginning our next level training. That’s 11 months of training, Gerry – and I admired you all the way. I learned how to deal with harassment (laugh at it) and so did you. As Tom Griffin noted, we were roommates and after all these years I think Jim Hall was in our cube as well.
You were a Northeastern University Coop student (I was a Boston College guy) who was ready for the workforce upon graduation, but we had the draft to contend with and I guess we were too busy to explore other service opportunities and ended up in the Infantry.
You took it much further after graduation and went the full measure – Airborne, Ranger, Special Forces. After all that training, there was only one place you were going - Vietnam. We had many discussions about this, but you were determined to become a Special Forces Officer and I respected you. It was rumored that after our initial stateside assignments, many in our class might be sent to Korea, where we still had something like 79,000 troops stationed and many company grade officers were set to rotate.
Eventually (by luck of the draw) I was assigned to the 7th Infantry Division, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Camp Casey, Tongduchon (TDC) [Dongducheon], South Korea, commanded by Major General Harold G. (Hal) Moore himself ("We Were Soldiers Once, and Young" - Ia Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam).
After my tour I landed at Fort Lewis in Mid-May 1971 at the same time as a plane load of Vietnam vets landed for out processing and I’m pretty sure (again- after all these years) I reunited with Tom Dahl from our class briefly who delivered the sad news that you were KIA. It wasn’t until I read on this website the details of your desperate circumstance – an ambush while acting as an advisor – so sad. Posted on 9.29.2016 BY [email protected])

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. It remains my fervent hope you will be returned home after the passage of so many years.