SGT Terry Neil Hardig
Date of Birth: December 26th, 1946
Killed in Action: January 21st, 1969
CPL Edward Michael Ruditys SP4 Alan Michael Royston And even though our acquaintance was for a short period
of time before these Three Fallen Heroes lost their lives, we had become
family. We shared everything, parts of letters and packages from
home, pictures and etc. As we were placed in this situation we were
family, and even today very little time lapses that I don't recall these friends.
My mind thinks of the 58,000 plus men and women who gave the ultimate price,
their lives.
We had Memorial Services for the Three Fallen Heroes
in Vietnam. I've never made it to Washington D.C., to "The Wall".
However in 1995 I made it to the "Moving Wall". My heart was deeply
touched and tears ran down my face as taps was played. I went
to the station to find out the location of these friends on the wall; as
tears were streaming down my face so hard that someone had to write this information out for me until
I regained my composure. I viewed the wall, heart-broken because
of those men and women who gave their lives.
When I left the wall I went to the place where the
time capsule was and placed within that capsule the picture I had taken
of the Memorial Service in Vietnam of my three friends. This picture
was three M16's with bayonets, placed in the ground with helmets on the
stock of the weapons and a pair of boots at the barrel of each weapon.
After twenty-six years, I felt within my heart that
I had finally buried my friends on our homeland instead of leaving them
as I remembered them last on foreign soil.
As we become older I wonder what that reunion day will
be like as we too pass from this life unto the next one. They were
so young, leaving so many loved ones behind; mothers, fathers, sisters,
brothers, and children of their own.
Date of Birth: October 20th, 1948
Killed in Action: February 24th, 1969
Date of Birth: May 15th, 1949
Killed in Action: February 24th, 1969
