ROBERT J CHALLENER
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HONORED ON PANEL 35W, LINE 37 OF THE WALL

ROBERT JOSEPH CHALLENER

WALL NAME

ROBERT J CHALLENER

PANEL / LINE

35W/37

DATE OF BIRTH

04/16/1947

CASUALTY PROVINCE

QUANG NAM

DATE OF CASUALTY

01/05/1969

HOME OF RECORD

WEST MIFFLIN

COUNTY OF RECORD

Allegheny County

STATE

PA

BRANCH OF SERVICE

MARINE CORPS

RANK

CPL

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Contact Details

REMEMBRANCES

LEFT FOR ROBERT JOSEPH CHALLENER
POSTED ON 5.31.1999
POSTED BY: Michael J. Remme

SPLENDID BEHAVIOR

Robert, you threw your body over mine to protect me in the ambush on hill 112 in August 68 when their mortars and our own artillery came down on top of us. I discussed this with the other officers when we got back to hill 10 and wanted to write you up for some medal but since you weren't hit we decided that it would just embarrass you. I wish now that I had, but I also know that they were right. You were always the operator who would take the dangerous patrols and go out again even though you had just come back and were filthy, tired, and hungry. I have just a frame of you standing on the hill, shirt off with your arms spread wide like the crucified Christ, a big smile on your face. When you came to Lt. Sharbaugh and I and asked to be let out of the FAC unit, since you were in the last 90 days or so of your tour and had promised your mother that you would seek a less dangerous post when you got short, we didn't hesitate to comply. You personified the meaning of Marine and had done far more than your share of dangerous service. Later, after leaving the battalion and returning to the cockpit of the Hueys, I ran into Dancing Bear (LCpl Harris), another of our radio operators in the FAC unit, on a ridge outside of An Hoa. He told me that you had been killed by an enemy machine gun nest while serving as point man on a road sweep just outside the hill. I'm sure that you volunteered for that post of danger like you did every other and saved the other members of the sweep by your sacrifice. There is seldom a day that I don't think of you and your young comrades in 1/7. God rest you and bless your family. I hope they read this. An epitaph one famous cattleman in Texas wrote for his trail companion of many years is certainly appropriate for you. "Never disobeyed an order, never shirked a task. Splendid Behavior." Semper Fi from M.J. Remme, your old 1-4 Actual. Arlington, Texas.
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