THE WALL OF FACES

It brings back like it was yesterday in 1967 receiving the bad news to the family. We were just married and I did not get a chance to know him as he was in the service. The stories that were told from his brother Stas, told me of his bravery when he was a little boy. How he was playing bow & arrows with his friends and lost sight of his left eye. You were so courageous and never blame any one. You still wanted to defend our nation knowing that you had only one good eye. All the citations attests to your courage and devotion. You are someone so special can never be forgotten. God Bless

This article appeared “above the fold,” as they say in newspaper parlance, in the “Chicopee Daily News.” The headline reads in full: “Ground-Breaking Ceremonies at Site of Burnett Road School.” That was just behind my house on Moreau Drive. The school was unnamed at the time of the groundbreaking ceremony but soon christened the "Sgt. Robert R. Litwin School" following the death of its namesake in Viet Nam.

While a student at the school named in his honor I knew only that Sft. Litwin had been killed in the war, nothing more. As an adult I am in awe of his bravery and sacrifice and feel honored to have once walked beneath the letters that spelled his name as I began my very first day of school as a kindergartner.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. Your Distinguished Service Cross citation attests to your courage and devotion to your fellow soldiers. As long as you are remembered you will remain in our hearts forever….

Dear Psgt Robert Litwin, Thank you for your service as an Airborne Qualified Infantryman. I researched you on the 53rd anniversary of the start of your tour. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It is another spring, but like none other. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

I was in the 4th grade on June 22 1967. I remember seeing his picture in a newspaper I was in Springfield Massachusetts. On June 28 1967. I was from Waltham mass well east of chicopie mass we were at agawam park. I read about Sgt litwin in the newspaper. I never met him but in 1967 Dionne Warwick had a hit song called Alfie. It always made me think of him in name and dak to. Why I don't know.