THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service and your sacrifice. Thank you for stepping up and answering your country's call. Rest easy knowing you will never be forgotten.

Private First Class Robert Henry Kruger Jr., Served with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, Third Marine Amphibious Force.

Bobby and I were in the same Cub Scout Den. His mom, our "den" mother. A year before me in high school, we were not close friends. I remember when he came home from Parris Island and after AIT. He seemed at least two inches taller and twenty pounds heavier. He looked great. About eight months later, Robert Pristas & I attended his funeral. Late May maybe June of 1967. In May of 1970, when I returned home from Vietnam, the very first person I saw as I walked up West 2nd St, was Bobby's mother. She walked towards me and we embraced. I could not let her go as she held on to me and cried. Today at 66, I guess I'm coming to terms with my own mortality. Ther will always be a place in my heart for fellow Marine Bobby Kruger and maybe more especially for the mother of a Marine, his mom. God bless them both. The photo I have submitted was taken less than a mile from where Bobby lost his life while serving his country, almost two years later.

Robert H. Kruger, Jr. was born in Clifton, NJ on July 19, 1948. He graduated Clifton High School in 1966. He enjoyed soccer and drawing.

Kruger served in the US Maine Corps beginning in 1966. He attained the rank of Private First Class (PFC).

He was a member of the 2nd Platoon, Echo Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Division. He was serving as a rifleman on Hill 881 North during Operation Beacon Star - Phase 2 when he was killed in action on May 3, 1967.