THE WALL OF FACES

Specialist Four Kerry Michael Bugajsky, Served with Company C, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, United States Army Vietnam.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The account of your high school classmates to have a raid named in your honor is inspiring and reflects their love and respect for you. May you rest in eternal peace.

CHRISTOPHER, IL — As about 60 students in the Christopher High School class of 1965 were enjoying their senior year, U.S. troops were heading to Vietnam, and their young lives were about to change forever. In three years, there would be about 540,000 American soldiers fighting in Southeast Asia.

Not long after securing their high school diplomas, several classmates from the small Southern Illinois school — nearly all of them young men — were called to serve. Many U.S. soldiers were greeted upon their return home by violent protests and political unrest. Their service was rarely celebrated and sometimes even shamed.

One member of the 1965 graduating class didn’t come home. Army Specialist Fourth Class Kerry M. Bugajsky died one year and three days after he joined the U.S. Army. Friends described the young man as an intellectual type who played an accordion in a local band and was generally just a “very nice boy.”

As the class of 1965 prepares for its 50th high school reunion in September, some former schoolmates of Bugajsky decided to explore ways to honor him for the ultimate sacrifice he made serving in combat.

Classmate Donna Sevenski said the reunion committee decided to ask Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, to help the group in naming a section of roadway on his behalf. That measure, House Joint Resolution 9, passed the Illinois House without opposition Thursday after being cleared by a transportation committee earlier in the week.

Sevenski, of Benton, and another classmate, Judy Perona of Mulkeytown, traveled to Springfield on Tuesday to testify before the committee about the importance for the class to honor Bugajsky in this way.

“The service members feel like they didn’t get the credit they deserved for being there,” said Sevenski, who served as the Franklin County circuit clerk from 2000 to 2012. “As a kid, you just don’t think about those things. They were all in Vietnam and when we heard Kerry was killed, it was such a shock because we were so young.”

Just entering adulthood as the United States entered the Vietnam conflict, his classmates are now approaching age 70.

According to the resolution, Bugajsky joined the Army on Jan. 16, 1967 — less than two years after graduating high school. He served as a mortar man with C Company, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry, 25th Infantry Division in the Iron Triangle in Vietnam.

Bugajsky died when he was hit during heavy mortar fire in the Chu Chi area of Vietnam.

In his honor, Bradley and his legislative colleagues approved naming the section of Illinois 14 between Christopher and Benton as the “SP4 Kerry M. Bugajsky Memorial Highway.” The joint resolution now goes to the Senate for consideration.

“Kerry Bugajsky is a true American hero who gave his life for his country,” Bradley said in a statement. “Naming part of Route 14 in his honor is one way to show a token of our appreciation to his family and friends.”

According to Bradley’s office, the process of naming a road in one’s honor is to make a request of a legislator, who then can sponsor a joint resolution. After passing the House and Senate, it goes to the Illinois Department of Transportation, which is charged with printing and installing new signage. A resolution does not require the governor’s signature.

Jane Benns of Benton, the chairperson of the reunion committee, said this effort to honor Bugajsky with the road naming carries on from the last class reunion held — the 45th — during which time other Vietnam veterans from the class were celebrated That salute to the class' veterans included recognition of Dom Ronchetto, a Navy medic who was awarded the Silver Star, and William Nedious, now of New Hampshire, who was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in the Army, she said.

“I thought it was important to recognize them and pay tribute to them because it was a different time back in the ’60s, and they did not get the respect that they should have gotten,” Benns said. “One classmate told me he was called a ‘baby killer’ when he came back. People weren’t happy with the war, and they didn’t differentiate between the war and the boys and they should have.”

Benns said the Christopher class of 1965 is “really proud of” Bugajsky and the others who were sent to fight in Vietnam.

by Molly Parker, The Southern Illinoisian

Dear Spec 4 Kerry Bugajsky,
Thank you for your as an Indirect Fire Infantryman. It is important for us all to acknowledge the sacrifices of those like you who answered our nation's call. Please watch over America, it stills needs your courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

Dear SP4 Kerry Michael Bugajsky, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, Sir

Curt Carter