FUHS 1967
Randy Rhea

Born 4/10/1949 - Killed in Action 11/12/1969
Article from Orange County Register

In the words of Randy's DAD Milt and brother Darrel....
Randy was born in Van Nuys, and moved with his family to Fullerton in the early 1950‘s. He attended Raymond Elementary, Wilshire Jr. High, and Fullerton High School, where he ran cross-country and graduated in 1967. He was in Boy Scout Troop 97 and enjoyed the outdoors. “He liked camping, and would try the most extreme things,” his brother Darrel said. “He was a gung-ho kind of guy.”

After one semester attending Fullerton Junior College, he enlisted in the army and excelled at basic training enough that he was chosen for a Special Forces unit. “Only one out of a thousand are chosen.“ Darrel proudly said of his big brother’s accomplishment.

“He went into the Green Beret training, which I didn’t really like, but he loved it. He thought it was the greatest thing in the world,” Milt remembered about his son. He said that Randy enjoyed the camaraderie with the other soldiers and his confidence in his own abilities grew. “I told him don’t be a hero, if you find yourself in trouble dig a hole,” was Milt’s advice to his son, “Sure enough, that’s the way he died.”

His team’s job was to follow the movements of the Viet Cong. It was rough duty and twice he was the only surviving member of his Green Beret team. I always thought of Randy as a survivor,FUHS “ Darrel said. “He was always going to be able to out-smart the circumstance.”

To finish out his tour of duty, he was stationed at a remote helicopter base. A helicopter was hit by mortar fire and crash-landed. Randy went out to save a friend from the wreckage, and on a return trip to the wreckage, he was hit by a bomb and killed.
“I know the story is true because after their tours two soldiers who were there when it happened came and told me the details of that day.” Milt said.
For his efforts, Randolph V. Rhea was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for bravery.

Randy’s full-military funeral with a 21-gun salute was held at Morningside Presbyterian Church. An over-flow crowd of hundreds filled the church and dozens more paid their respects from outside the church. He was interred at Loma Vista Memorial Park right in front of the mausoleum where the yearly Memorial Day ceremony takes place. The American flag that draped his coffin remains to this day in the possession of his father.

Several of Randy’s army buddies who returned from the war eventually named their own sons after Randy. His brother Darrel named his son after Randy too. “My son, Randolph Wallace Rhea, is working on a Ph.D. in “Peace and Conflict Transformation,” Darrel said of his brother‘s namesake.

“I think what I learned most from my brother’s death was how many people a single war casualty could impact. There were hundreds of people touched by his death, and many are still moved by the loss. Going to high school reunions was emotional for me, so many people would come up to me in tears to talk about how significant his death was to them. I found myself having to relive my grief over and over. Twenty years, thirty years, forty years later, people still hurt from it. I can see the multiplier of pain for the 50,000 men we lost in Vietnam, and shudder to think of the scope of pain for the millions killed in WWII. The impact of war is enormous, and a lesson civilization seems to have to relearn every generation.” said Darrel Rhea.
“When Randy died, people gave me money in lieu of flowers. Well, I didn’t want to keep it for myself, so through Kiwanis we set up a scholarship in Randy’s name,” The Randy Rhea Memorial Scholarship. The first scholarship was given out in 1970, and has been awarded every year since. This year’s scholarship winner will be awarded $600.

Submitted by Marci Band, FUHS 1967