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Brothers After The War.
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U.S. Army
DAW (death after war) 1986
I met John in a rap group at the Vietnam Veteran's Outreach Center in St. Louis in 1985. He had been a Lt. in the Army in Vietnam. He used to anguish over killing his hooch maid. I think because he thought she was VC or because she was ripping him off or both. In November 1985, around Veteran's Day, a group of 20 of us from the rap groups went to THE WALL in Washington DC and John was one of those who went.
In early 1986, John put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
11/1985 - At the St. Louis Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
U.S.M.C.
DAW
Gary was a former Marine Vietnam vet and a member of the Missouri Veterans Vigil of Honor, and Past President of the St. Louis Area Veterans Consortium (SLAVC). I'm a member also and it was through them that I met Gary some years ago. He had a brother Bob that looked somewhat like him and sometimes I would get them confused. We attended a lot of Veterans activities throughout the years and celebrated the Marine Corps.
A few years ago, Gary put a rifle to his head and pulled the trigger.
Veteran Appreciation Night at Busch Stadium.
7/1/89
U.S.M.C.
DAW 7/4/95
Dave did a couple tours in 'Nam in the mid 60's. He was wounded on both tours and I think he had 3 Purple Hearts. He was former board member of SLAVC. We called his van the Mobile Marine Corps Museum because of all the Marine stuff in and on it. One time we were talking about boot camp and he said something about his "Bunkie" or bunk buddy. After that, some of us called him Bunky Brewster. He got cancer a few years ago and was awarded 100% service connected disability for Agent Orange.
He died shortly after.
5/13/1991
1992 - At the "Moving Wall", downtown St. Louis.
1992? - 94th Aero Squadron Restaurant by the St. Louis Airport.
U.S. Air Force
DAW 2/13/99
Vietnam Veteran. Board member and long time member of SLAVC. A member of the Missouri Veterans Vigil of Honor, he was dedicated to POW/MIA issues. It started as cancer a couple years ago and continued from there. On Veterans Day last year, Denny was in the hospital. We had the annual Veterans Day candlelight vigil at the SLAVC Hall, reading the names of those from the St. Louis area killed in Vietnam. His wife was at the hall and had him on the phone so he could listen to the reading from his hospital bed. Agent Orange claims another brother.
199?
12/5/98
12/5/1998
US Army
DAW 12/8/99
I knew Bill from back in my Mehlville high school days. One of my good friends, Randy Jenkins, was also his good friend. That was how I met him and we all used to hang out at Lemay Steak 'n Shake.
I just rediscovered him about 4 or 5 years ago at Vet Jam. I saw him every year and he asked about Randy. This year I saw him at Vet Jam and he told me about another Mehlville guy, Tom Sontag, dying. He never said a word about his own cancer. He was just a hell of a nice guy and it's truly sad that one of good people of the world had to go so soon.
He was diagnosed with Agent Orange related cancer in July and it got the best of him.
from the Mehville High School Yearbook "The Reflector" - 1965
U.S. Air Force
DAW 2/09/01
To my good buddy, Frank A. Ulma who just died this past Friday, February 9, 2001 from an extended bout with throat cancer. I'm sure as hell going to miss you even though we didn't get to see much of each other during the past 20 years.
Frank was an Air Force dog handler in Germany during the Vietnam era.
When I lived in New York and worked at the U.N., Frank and I were roommates for close to four years.
I got the chance to visit with him for a while when we went to New York last year.
We had some great times together. Many, many concerts including the 650,000 person Watkins Glen Concert. Frank had been to the original Woodstock also.
Rest In Peace brother...
his Air Force days.
U.S. Air Force U.S. Marine Corps
DAW 7/08/04
To Bob - the best friend a person could have. My friend, brother, confidant, former roommate, mentor, fellow Marine, sidekick, inspiration and the list could go on and on.
As his nephew referred to him: A cross beween Mr. Rogers and Superman. He was all that and more.
He left New York for a tour in the Air Force in the mid 60's where he was stationed in Germany as a dog handler.
I met him through his brother in St.Louis, where he came after the Air Force.
His brother Bill and I went to high school together and I used to hang out at Bill's. When Bob came to St. Louis we got to be good friends.
After a while, he got restless and joined the Marine Corps. A while later, I joined the Marine Corps.
When I got out of The Corps in August '70, Bob was already out.
After a few weeks in St. Louis, we got the wanderlust. Bob had family in New York, but I wanted to go to Calfornia, stopping in Montana to see a fellow Vietnam vet and try my hand at smoke jumping. Bob liked the smoke jumping part.
We decided to hitchhike to New York to visit his sister Linda and his friends up there. Then we head West form there. His friends were Al Davis (who had been a Green Beret Vietnam) and Frank Ulma (Bob's fellow dog-handler in Germany in the Air Force) who was from New York. It took us 27 hours and 32 rides to get to NY. That was quite an experience.
When we went to see Frank, we discovered that Frank had two sisters. Bob immediately fell in love with Frank's sister Donna. Donna set me up with her girlfriend Cathy.
Bob and I decided we needed jobs if we were going to take these women out. His friend Al worked at E. J. Korvette's in Herald Square (across from Macy's) as a store detective. He took us down there and they were only to happy to hire a couple of former Marines. In our training classes there, we got to be good frineds with Bill Alcaide 1st Cavalry Divsion in Vietnam) and have remained friends throughout the years.
After a few months at Korvette's, things were getting pretty serious with Bob and Donna. I wasn't seeing Cathy anymore. Bob left Korvette's and eventually ended up at Con Edison as a cable splicer. I was tempted to head West on my own, but I had also put in a few other job applications. The pay at Korvette's sucked. I got a telegram from the UN (Couldn't afford a phone) offering me a job for more money than I had ever made in my life. I took the job and Bob and I stayed roommates for quite a while.
He married Donna in '72 and I was their best man. I lost my roommate, but gained Donna's brother Frank as a roommate until I left NY in '74.
It was very hard to leave the friends I made up there. Bob was such a knowledgeable person and he taught me a lot. He introduced me to many different foods, especially Chinese food. In St. Louis back then, it was chop suey in a can. There was only one Chinese restaurant in STL and it was a swanky one fo rthe mucky-mucks. Then there were the other foods I had never had until Bob - knishes, martinis, lox, bagels, greek food, Nathan's hot dogs, Italian ices, and New York pizza slices.
So many memories...
Rest In Peace brother...
U.S. Marine Corps
DAW 5/31/2005
Think Sherman Helmsley as "George Jefferson". When you do, you have Willy. As least that's what his manner and disposition conveyed to me. Just a fun guy to be around.
Willy was with the 9th Marines in Vietnam. I didn't know him then.
I met him at the United Nations when we worked in the security section. He and I were on the same squad.
Willy lived in the Bronx. He never had a car or driver's license like many people in New York. Plenty of busses and subways.
I lived in Yonkers, just North of the Bronx.
Willy became my co-rider to work. I would pick him up on the way to work and drop him off on my way home.
That is, when we decided to go straight home.
We did a lot of partying after work. Willy was a "Drambuie and Scotch" guy. He used to take me places in Harlem where a white boy wouldn't go by himself. I always had a good time, though.
Many times, we would make it to Willy's in the wee hours of the morning and I would just crash there for the night.
His wife wasn't always happy with us, but I would awake to her fixing breakfast for us. When you're single like I was, you just don't pass up home cooked breakfasts.
We got to be called "salt and pepper" by some of the guys at the UN.
There was a lot of predjudice at the UN. There were white guys ask me why I ran around with a black guy, and black guys ask him why he ran around with a white guy. Our answer was that the only color we knew was Marine Corps green.
I worked at the UN for almost 4 years and we were the best of friends.
Some time after I left NY, Willy left the UN and moved to Virginia. We stayed in touch over the years.
We went to Houston in '95 for his daughter's wedding.
In the last couple of years, Willy was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia and got confined to a wheel chair.
I feel a great sense of sorrow because I didn't see more of him in the recent years.
As we passed through VA on the way to NY in May of this year, I thought about stopping in VA and visiting with him. Since we had our grandkids with us, I thought it might be better if we went to see him at a different time.
I should have stopped. Willy died on May 31st.
I just found out after we them sent a Christmas card. His wife wrote back that he had died in May and she forgot to let me know.
My heart is very heavy this Christmas season. But, I know he's cracking jokes and making someone laugh up there like he did when I knew him.
Rest In Peace Brother.
in 1995.
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Memorial pages index
My Hotel Brothers Memorial page 1
My Hotel Brothers Memorial page 2
My Hotel Brothers Memorial page 3
My Brothers In War Memorial page
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Prologue - Begin my Marine tour
2/5 Area of Operations map- Begin my Vietnam tour
Various Marine stuff - page 1
5th Marine Regiment Headquarters page
Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) page
Hotel Roster 5/23/69
Hotel Company Yearbook - 1970
2/5 area recent pics page 1
Veterans in my family
My Marine Education and Training
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