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.

You were always a leader. So sad that a talent like yours ended so soon. For some reason you went one way and me another after OCS.

He was a friend and a fine man. His smile lit the room. He recited "Gunga Din" from a dining table and it was a great moment. I met his family and they were very nice.I remember him often. Miss you Pershing.

My remembrance is a bit different from the others,as we were primarily childhood friends-one of my two or ree best- at Buckley School in NYC, and later at Exeter. Long before becoming a war hero, back then he was known mainly as a delightful imp, and we had countless naughty adventures together, laughing ourselves silly. Among many other stunts, he distinguished himself by knocking over his parents' priceless grandfather clock while reaching behind it for a ball at their Park Ave. mansion. I lost touch when I left Exeter in 1960 except for a couple of contacts when he was at Yale. A truly great, entertaining guy and dear friend. I was devastated when I learned of his death. I now live in France only a few miles from the Pershing Memorial in Versailles.

BTW, his grandfather not only was a great general who changed history, he is the highest ranking army officer in American history, with the exception of George Washington.

Distant memories are what remain fifty years later - of a skillful teammate and then worthy opponent on the lacrosse field as we moved through school and then on to separate colleges, of a caring friend and classmate at school, of struggles to comprehend and respond to war in Vietnam, and of a deep sense of loss, sadness and frustration upon learning of Dick's death.