Submitted by MSG Don Bartron, Dec 31, 2007 15:49

I salute you, my fallen comerade. You and I crossed paths in our small SF community, and our lives were inter-twined before you became a Green Beret. As a youth, I volunteered to serve as a CAP Marine in Quang Nam and Quan Tri Provinces, Republic of Viet Nam. I lived with your people, and they became "My" people. I learned much about the reasons we sacrifice ourselves for the good of others at the sides of many of your brave Gnia Quans in the fight to keep your country from falling to the Communist forces of North Viet Nam supported by their allied Chinese and Russian forces,that I fought against, at the end of my second tour.I shared in the lives of the common folk, and they in mine. I developed a respect for their tribal ways, and their "tribe" was not unlike my family, back home on the reservation. I immersed myself in their way of life, and protected them from the enemy, in the darkness of the night. Our lives and survival became intwined, and often, I would share my meager rations with them, and they gave to me what they could. I learned to love on another scale which my young mind would log away forever. It was a tough time, but a good memory for me. The hardest task I had to perform when I left your family's homeland then, was to leave them in a hurry,on my stretcher, as my Quan's and Vietnamese Rangers loaded me on the helicopter with my last wound from the 'Nam...I saw my villagers crying-and it was for me they were expressing their love and devotion at that moment in time! All I could do was watch... Xin Loi, mon ami, Beacoup Dau, Toi di Waki...In all the following years since, I have always kept their memories alive in my heart. Later, after my wounds had healed, and my education and civilian-life-return-experiment was completed, I volunteered once again to wear the uniform, only this time, I wore a Green Beret for 31 years.

This is where I met you, as you were coming through training group where I was teaching survival and hand-to-hand. I spoke to you in Vietnamese, and you acted as if you had been bit by a bamboo viper! HAH! We both laughed, and I explained my journey, and you spoke crptically of your struggles to become an American. later in the crossings, we crossed paths again you in 1st Group, me, at the Sniper committee, and 10th Group. Wars and skirmishes followed, and once again we crossed paths.

OF everything said about you, I know these things to be true. You were a valuable assett to your team members and your unit. You never let them down, nor put yourself first over the mission, nor the team. SGM Brad Conners was a personal friend and brother to me. He was in your unit, and we had talked before about your trail into the Forces from Viet Nam. He saw your ambitions to excell, reflect great motivation to those around you. You never quit, and had a fast flash point for humor, and made your best effort for others around you. This is what he told me when we crossed two years ago. I saw this in Your inner heart and spirit, and it is the memory and piece of you I will keep in my soul along with my other brothers who have gone before me already. It is the heart, and the purpose, for which your people and family share from your gifts, that live on in them today, just as my family and people, Our America is one and the same. From your exodus from Viet Nam, until the day you stepped up to the fight as a younger warrior, your path and mine were intertwined--yet far away. I mourn your families loss of their son, but I also show honor to you by my simple words expressed here. You have mounted up, "...on the wings of eagles, you have run a good race, and your reward is in heaven"-- where we all shall cross over to in our due time. The parody and pathos of this time for me has become crystal clear, like sunlight reflecting off the facet of a diamond...You gave your life, so that others might live... it was not taken--There is a profound difference. for this sacrifice you have enriched in each one of us, and especially in this old dog-soldier, I send a voice! God cradle you in his love, and may his healing mercies be upon your family and all whose love you shared be blessed. No one except God knows the time, and reason he calls us home when he does. That is not ours to question. What is important is that we walk the path God has shown to us, and to help those along the way . Your path is complete now, thank you for crossing mypath...Nous Defions, Di Opresso Liber Don "Gunny" Bartron, USSF-Ret

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