THE WALL OF FACES

Bobby, I remember you looking shy, and handsome in your uniform, sitting next to your bride, Marsha, at your wedding supper that long-ago December night. Laura and I were 15. Less than a year later we lost you forever. Rest in peace, dear friend of my childhood!

I remember the little things…like when you shot my cheek with the rubber-tipped arrow and I got you back when I stuck a pin in your basketball. How we walked a mile up town so you could buy 2 big sour pickles – one for me and one for you to eat on the way home. How you used your paper route money to buy a pool so we could swim on hot days. I remember ice skating with you at Silver Lake. I remember your wrestling matches, your graduation, how you carried the crucifix in church, and when you got your driver’s license. I remember when you left for college, when you enlisted, when you got married, and your excitement when you found out you were going to be a father. I remember you standing at the top of the stairs to board the airplane to leave and you turned around and waved good-bye to Mom, Dad, your wife, your unborn child, and me. And then you were gone and I was no longer a little sister.

My name is Jim Hartman. I am working with PA State Representative Thomas Murt. Tom has received authorization to build a memorial for our Viet Nam hometown heroes from Hatboro, PA. Bill Ahlum lived on Tom's street. They were neighbors.

We are searching for people who knew our hometown boys (7) to gain some insight into them for the memorial. For fear of stirring up any bad memories, can you provide us with any insight?

For the record Tom is a decorated Iraq vet and I'm an old SEABEE MCB 71 68-74.

Tom's email is [email protected]

Our KIA:
William John Ahlum Army Captain neoighbor of Tom Murt
Howard Edward Cashman Army SP4
Jame Patrick Kelly Army 2LT
Joseph Lannon USMC PFC childhood friend and classmate
Robert Preston Ruttle Army SP4
Ronald Carlton Smith Army SP4
Robert Richard Wright Army 1LT

God Bless and thank you,
Jim Hartman

Bob,
I remember you most from French class and the football team. Since first seeing your obituary, I have thought of you often. God Bless you.

Pilot Is Killed As Reds Down His Helicopter

Army 1st Lt. Robert R. Wright Jr., a 1964 graduate of Upper Moreland High School in Montgomery County, was killed in the crash of a helicopter he was piloting in Vietnam.
Lt. Wright died Monday when the aircraft was shot down by North Vietnamese ground fire, then burned, the Defense Department notified his wife.
Mrs. Wright, the former Marsha Goldsmith, is an expectant mother and is living with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Warren Goldsmith, at 4130 Davisville rd., Hatboro.
Lt. Wright's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert R. Wright Sr., live at 107 Bonnett lane, Moreland Manor, Upper Moreland Twp. The elder Wright is an engineer at WNPZ Radio in Lansdale.
Lt. Wright attended Millersville State College for 18 months before enlisting in the Army on May 23, 1966. He was graduated from Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga., on May 2, 1967 as a second Lieutenant, and took helicopter training at Fort Walter, Tex., and at Fort Rucker, Ala., completing his schooling on July 2.
He left the United States for Vietnam on August 12.
According to his wife, he was assigned to A Company, 1st Aviation Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, at Phu Loy near Saigon. He was recently transferred to the unit and had written that he expected to be transporting officers and flying observation missions.