HONORED ON PANEL 5E, LINE 121 OF THE WALL
WILLIAM DAVID MCCUEN JR
WALL NAME
WILLIAM D MCCUEN JR
PANEL / LINE
5E/121
DATE OF BIRTH
CASUALTY PROVINCE
DATE OF CASUALTY
HOME OF RECORD
COUNTY OF RECORD
STATE
BRANCH OF SERVICE
RANK
REMEMBRANCES
LEFT FOR WILLIAM DAVID MCCUEN JR
POSTED ON 8.24.1999
POSTED BY: Bob Rogozinski
Butchie McCuen - Requiescat in Pace
Thirty-seven years ago today -- on June 8th, 1962 -- Butchie McCuen graduated from Northeast Catholic High School for Boys in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Graduation Day was a Friday and the weather had been perfect. The Baccalaureate Mass was held at Holy Innocents Church in the morning and commencement exercises were held in the evening at Convention Hall, the site in the mid-1970s of the boxing match between Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed in Sylvester Stallone's movie "Rocky". 497 boys received their diplomas that night.
Butchie and I had been classmates during our four years at North and also during the preceding eight years at Saint Anne's grammar school. I knew him to be a good person, friendly, well-liked. His loss in Vietnam was bad enough; coming less than a month before his 22nd birthday made it worse.
I am including his graduation picture from our yearbook.
Many boys from North Catholic had gone on to serve their country proudly. The names of those who never returned, are read over the PA system at the high school during home period on the Friday before Memorial Day.
In Butchie McCuen America lost a good person with enormous potential. May he rest in peace forever more.
There are some things that never changed since Butchie and 58,218 other Americans made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam: Politicians still tell us what we want to hear. Used car salesmen still try to sell us cream puffs. Taxes stalk us wherever we turn. Women in mini-skirts keep looking great. Fidel Castro remains El Presidente of Cuba. And you can still be outfitted with a suit, shirt, tie, shoes, and socks for under a hundred bucks on South Street in Philadelphia.
But those who died in Vietnam missed out on so many things that were unthinkable back in the Sixties:
. The Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain came down, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Cold War ended -- we won. Some ghosts from Vietnam were laid to rest when our military was allowed to win a war in the Persian Gulf.
. An American President resigned over a third-rate burglary and another survived impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice.
. Red China is just "China" now -- it was "opened up". American tourists visit the Great Wall and two of China's presidents have been wined and dined at the White House.
. South Africa has abolished apartheid and democratically elected two blacks as president.
. A Polish Pope was elected, and the Phillies won a World Series -- there's no connection.
. An Egyptian president went to the Israeli Knesset to seek peace in the Middle East, and a former POW imprisoned in North Vietnam was appointed the first American ambassador to Hanoi.
. A Pope and a President both survived assassination attempts. No one survived mass suicide at Jonestown or within the Heaven's Gate group.
. India and Pakistan have The Bomb. Other countries are not far behind.
. Americans elected as President a peanut farmer, a Hollywood actor, and a pot-smoking draft dodger who cheated on his wife. We are now evaluating a long list of potential candidates that include a woman, a former POW, a basketball player, and a retired black Army General whom most white Americans would proudly elect President if he ever decided to run. In the meantime, the draft dodger and several European peaceniks have been ordering NATO warplanes to bomb Yugoslavia.
. Elvis allegedly went to the Big Recording Studio in the Sky but can still be sighted most anywhere, most anytime. Sonny Bono split from Cher and later became a mayor and then a Congressman. Cher still looks mighty fine.
. A movie about Shakespeare beat out for Best Picture a movie about saving a GI during the D-Day Normandy invasion. And for almost a quarter-century now, the world has remained entertained by movies about a civilisation living a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
. "Ethnic cleansing" has entered our vocabulary, as has "spin doctor" who has absolutely nothing to do with medicine. The intent of what we write or speak now depends upon what the meaning of the word "is" is.
. Personal computers, cyberspace and the Internet make my words available to the world; all are controlled by clicking a hand-held device named after a rodent.
. AIDS and ebola, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. CAT scans, micro-surgery, organ transplants. Cloning, Prozac, and Viagra. Compact discs and video games, video cameras and VCRs. Smart bombs, cruise missiles, stealth airplanes. School shootings, drive-by shootings, shooting galleries.
You 58,219 have missed out on witnessing these and so many other unpredictable, unimaginable events during the past three decades. You were denied the opportunity of enjoying the fruits coming from fighting for your country, from taking your place in the sun. How different, and better, the world would have been if only all of you had made it home safely!
May all of you who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam rest in peace forever more. Ye shall remain forever young.
Bob Rogozinski B.S., M.A., Ph.D.
Captain - US Air Force
Vietnam 1967-1969
June 8th, 1999
[email protected]
Copyright © 1999
Butchie and I had been classmates during our four years at North and also during the preceding eight years at Saint Anne's grammar school. I knew him to be a good person, friendly, well-liked. His loss in Vietnam was bad enough; coming less than a month before his 22nd birthday made it worse.
I am including his graduation picture from our yearbook.
Many boys from North Catholic had gone on to serve their country proudly. The names of those who never returned, are read over the PA system at the high school during home period on the Friday before Memorial Day.
In Butchie McCuen America lost a good person with enormous potential. May he rest in peace forever more.
There are some things that never changed since Butchie and 58,218 other Americans made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam: Politicians still tell us what we want to hear. Used car salesmen still try to sell us cream puffs. Taxes stalk us wherever we turn. Women in mini-skirts keep looking great. Fidel Castro remains El Presidente of Cuba. And you can still be outfitted with a suit, shirt, tie, shoes, and socks for under a hundred bucks on South Street in Philadelphia.
But those who died in Vietnam missed out on so many things that were unthinkable back in the Sixties:
. The Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain came down, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Cold War ended -- we won. Some ghosts from Vietnam were laid to rest when our military was allowed to win a war in the Persian Gulf.
. An American President resigned over a third-rate burglary and another survived impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice.
. Red China is just "China" now -- it was "opened up". American tourists visit the Great Wall and two of China's presidents have been wined and dined at the White House.
. South Africa has abolished apartheid and democratically elected two blacks as president.
. A Polish Pope was elected, and the Phillies won a World Series -- there's no connection.
. An Egyptian president went to the Israeli Knesset to seek peace in the Middle East, and a former POW imprisoned in North Vietnam was appointed the first American ambassador to Hanoi.
. A Pope and a President both survived assassination attempts. No one survived mass suicide at Jonestown or within the Heaven's Gate group.
. India and Pakistan have The Bomb. Other countries are not far behind.
. Americans elected as President a peanut farmer, a Hollywood actor, and a pot-smoking draft dodger who cheated on his wife. We are now evaluating a long list of potential candidates that include a woman, a former POW, a basketball player, and a retired black Army General whom most white Americans would proudly elect President if he ever decided to run. In the meantime, the draft dodger and several European peaceniks have been ordering NATO warplanes to bomb Yugoslavia.
. Elvis allegedly went to the Big Recording Studio in the Sky but can still be sighted most anywhere, most anytime. Sonny Bono split from Cher and later became a mayor and then a Congressman. Cher still looks mighty fine.
. A movie about Shakespeare beat out for Best Picture a movie about saving a GI during the D-Day Normandy invasion. And for almost a quarter-century now, the world has remained entertained by movies about a civilisation living a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
. "Ethnic cleansing" has entered our vocabulary, as has "spin doctor" who has absolutely nothing to do with medicine. The intent of what we write or speak now depends upon what the meaning of the word "is" is.
. Personal computers, cyberspace and the Internet make my words available to the world; all are controlled by clicking a hand-held device named after a rodent.
. AIDS and ebola, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. CAT scans, micro-surgery, organ transplants. Cloning, Prozac, and Viagra. Compact discs and video games, video cameras and VCRs. Smart bombs, cruise missiles, stealth airplanes. School shootings, drive-by shootings, shooting galleries.
You 58,219 have missed out on witnessing these and so many other unpredictable, unimaginable events during the past three decades. You were denied the opportunity of enjoying the fruits coming from fighting for your country, from taking your place in the sun. How different, and better, the world would have been if only all of you had made it home safely!
May all of you who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam rest in peace forever more. Ye shall remain forever young.
Bob Rogozinski B.S., M.A., Ph.D.
Captain - US Air Force
Vietnam 1967-1969
June 8th, 1999
[email protected]
Copyright © 1999
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