10/18/2004 06:18:20 PM|||Toni|||

You have to go read this wonderful tribute:

Black Bart, my dad, distinguished himself in the battle of the Ia Drang first in 1965, when he was Charlie Battery commander for the 2nd of the 20th First Air Cav. . . .Like so many of you, Black Bart volunteered for a second tour and served as Battalion Cmdr. of the 4th of the 77th 101st Airborne. Just before Thanksgiving, 1968, we learned he was shot down and reported missing while taking out an enemy gun emplacement. That dreaded knock on the door came during The Macy’s parade, the memory of that seared forever in my brain.

And speaking of SEARED, ironically, dad’s funeral was held almost the same time a young John Kerry was seeing the doc about a splinter, and requesting his first purple heart.|||109814150048071652|||An army brat's case against John Kerry