THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. I am heartened you returned home after the passage of so many years though I wish it had been under very different circumstances. May you rest in eternal peace.

Taken from The Long-Islander (Huntington, NY), November 6, 1969, courtesy of The Reference Desk, Huntington Public Library, Huntington, NY.

Dear LTJG Richard Reardon, Thank you for your service as a Helicopter Pilot. Glad you were identified in 2003. Welcome home. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. The 57th anniversary of Gulf of Tonkin Incident is soon. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Dickie and I met in the early 60's, along with our brothers, resulting from our family beach homes at Oak Beach, NY. Becoming teenagers, we hung out more, especially the fishing and partying side as we matured . In 1964, quitting college, I joined the Marine Corp Reserve, and Dickie stayed the course, graduating from Bryant College, in Providence, RI. I was an usher at his wedding with his beautiful bride, Peggy. Sometime later, following my return from Hawaii, It wasn't until the Spring of '69, my brother Rod (USN-UDT/Seals) and I heard that he was MIA in Vietnam following a Helo crash. Later we learned of his combat death from that incident. Rod and I extend our sincerest condolences to his extended family...we will never forget Dickie!

I worked with his mother in a company on Long Island. Mrs Reardon knew I served in Viet Nam and was just about her sons age. Every so ofter she would she would ask me if I knew her son who was still MIA at that point. I don't think she ever got over his loss.