When I was growing up, I had many heroes; John Wayne, Superman, Mickey Mantle, Captain Kangaroo, etc.  All famous people to whom I looked up to and wanted to emulate.

But as I have grown older, I have come to realize heroes are far different than my childhood visions.  Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.”  As for me I think heroes are ordinary people who do extraordinary things in an extraordinary moment.  Or something like that.

On January 30, 1968 the Tet offensive began in Vietnam.  You may remember it.  It lasted until late February, and had a mini-Tet offensive in May of 1968.  On graduation day it was a part of our psyche.

Sometime later that year Larry Hilkin was drafted, and reported for duty, probably at Fort Des Moines as many of us.  He would have gone through basic training, and then Advanced Infantry Training (AIT).  On March 7, 1969 he began his 1^st tour in South Vietnam as an Infantryman with the 1^st Calvary Division in the Tay Ninh province of South Vietnam.  Probably not his dream job, but he did as his country had asked and required him to do.

Tay Ninh was a hotspot about 50 miles northwest of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City).  It was on the border of Cambodia, and was a hotbed of underground tunnels and weapons caches.  Not a friendly place.  And 22 days after arriving in Tay Ninh Operation Montana Scout begins.

Eight days later on April 6, 1969 Lawrence Archie Hilkin died in battle as a result of burns.  His body was recovered.  I don’t have a copy of his obituary, but he is buried in Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Dubuque.  (Note: Terry Jackson was probably the last classmate to see Larry before his deployment to Vietnam.  He kindly provided newpaper clippings of Larry's death and obit, which you may find at this link https://www.classcreator.com/Dubuque-Iowa-Dubuque-Senior-1968/class_profile.cfm?member_id=6212358).  In all of Operation Montana Scout, we succeeded in killing 1,584 Vietnamese at the expense of 284 U.S.  Without Larry that would be 283.  Not sure why the numbers are important.  They were then.

In all we lost 16 young men from Dubuque in Vietnam, with countless others wounded or serving.  I have visited the Wall Memorial in Washington DC twice, each time to visit another friend, Peter Cook, a twin brother of his brother Paul who survived.  I never knew about Larry until I started this web site.  On my next trip I will visit Panel 27 West, Line 25 and shed some tears as did on my previous two.

In all somewhere between 40,000-60,000 Americans died in Vietnam, including 16 of our own.  I don’t have a count of our classmates who served, but there were many.  I’m so thankful most came back.

Memorial Day is only a few days away.  Enjoy the day!  But somewhere during the weekend, I hope you will take a moment to thank all who have served, and especially our classmates, and most especially PFC Lawrence Archie Hilkin and others who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country.