Remembering Their Service

Remembering Their Service

This page is dedicated to our Vets both living and those who have gone on. Please feel free to add photos of our classmates who have served. We appreciate your service!

A poem written by our own Bob Battin:

The Wall

The dormant grass feels crisp beneath your steps.

The trees are leafless, bleak and exposed.

A brisk wind cools your face.

A pale gray sky looks down on you with thin, wispy clouds.

You walk down the long hard path in a line to The Wall.

Your steps are slow like an aged man.

Your breath quickens.

You feel a pounding in your chest and a throbbing in your back.

You are searching for an old friend, a brother-in-arms.

He is here, somewhere on The Wall.

His guilt has left him, but his name lives on, engraved in gabbro You find his address.

You stare at his name.

Your memory of him stares back at you, stares right through you.

You see his face. You hear his voice.

You kneel and begin to weep.

You talk with God.

Why did you take him?

Was it his time?

Was his life in vain?

Can you hear me? Is anyone up there?

Others look at you.

A hand reaches out.

You feel a gentle touch on your shoulder.

An elderly man cries out. “We share your grief; our son is here.”

You turn to him, eyes rimmed in red and say, “All gave some, but those here gave all.”

He nods and embraces you.

At one time your heart was warm and pure, but when you came home, the warmth left you and the pure was no more.

Gone.

Gone with the war.

Gone like those on The Wall.

As you turn to leave, the sun makes its way through the thin gray clouds and burst forth, its clean white light reflecting on the shiny black panel basking the names on The Wall.

A quiet peace settles over you.

Time to clear your soul.

Time to let go.

Time to heal.

Pen It! Magazine | Pg 14 Bio: R. A. Battin is a retired CPA, CMA who lives near Ogilville. His writing has previously appeared in Pen It! Magazine. He is currently working on a collection of short stories about his experiences as a medic in Vietnam.

You may have served in Combat

or while preserving peace

You may have retired out

or you may have served for a short time.

You may have been a draftee

or a Volunteer.

You may have served in the Marine Corps, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard or the Merchant Marines,

BUT YOU SERVED. YOU DID YOUR JOB HONORABLY and for that I am PROUD to call you 'Brother'.

You may have served during WW-II, Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Persian Gulf, Iraq or Afghanistan, But you served, you did not
Run.

You have earned your DD-214 with those words "HONORABLY DISCHARGED" two of the most noble words in the World.

Again I am proud to know each and every one of you.

*Today is Band of Brothers' Day*; send this to all your Brothers, Fathers, Sons and fellow Veterans you know.

'Happy Band of Brothers'
Day !

A Tribute by the Texas Tenors:


https://www.youtube.com/embed/daqwGRdRIsk?feature=player_detailpage

About the Viet Nam war:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/aVeBtnfAxP8

A link to the Virtual Wall by State
http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm

Sergeant Jesse Dale Carpenter

Home of Record: Martinsville, IN
Date of birth:   09/09/1947

MILITARY DATA
Service:         Army of the United States
Grade at loss:   E4
Rank:            Sergeant
Note:            Posthumous Promotion as indicated
ID No:           55854929
MOS:             36K20: Tactical Wire Operations Specialist
Length Service: 02
Unit:            A CO, 4TH BN, 21ST INFANTRY, 11TH INFANTRY BDE, AMERICAL DIV, USARV

CASUALTY DATA
Start Tour:      11/28/1968
Incident Date:   02/23/1969
Casualty Date:   02/23/1969
Age at Loss:     21
Location:        Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam
Remains:         Body recovered
Casualty Type:   Hostile, died outright
Casualty Reason: Ground casualty
Casualty Detail: Artillery, rocket, or mortar

URL: www.VirtualWall.org/dc/CarpenterJD01a.htm

ON THE WALL        Panel 32W Line 092

SPC 4 Vinson L. "Bink" Hancock

Stephan Ray Thompson, 62

July 13, 1947 — March 4, 2010

Born in Martinsville, Stephan graduated from Martinsville High School. Attended Indiana University. He served in Viet Nam from 1969-1972 with the 151st Infantry (Ranger Airborne) Company D. He received the National Defense Service Medal, Viet Nam Service Medal, Viet Nam Campaign Medal, Parachute Badge, Good Conduct Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Sharpshooter (Rifle) Badge, Combat Infantry Badge.

Stephan enjoyed racing and owned his own Speed Shop in Indianapolis.

Thanks for your service Stephan. Welcome Home!

GERALD R. BRYAN 1947-2009

Gerald Ross Bryan was born on April 19, 1947, in Winnipeg, Canada, the son of Orville and Betty (Jackson) Bryan. He and Patricia Etzen were united in marriage on June 4, 1977, in Ames, Iowa. After graduating from Martinsville High School in Indiana in 1965, Gerry joined the United States Air Force and served from 1965 to 1968, including a year in Vietnam as a sentry dog handler. Following his discharge from the Air Force, he attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls, where he earned both his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Education. He was preceded in death by his parents and Pat's father.

Thanks for your service and Welcome Home!