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WHAT I CAN DO - I WILL -
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Tell me the
story again, please,
I promise I won't cry.
I'm not trying to upset you, Mommy,
I just don't understand why.
You said Daddy went missing
In some country called Viet Nam.
How can we lose a soldier ?
I just don't understand.
You said he wanted to go,
That it was his duty to fight.
But Mommy, why isn't he home ?
I miss him with all my might !
Tell me the story again, please,
Of what happened when I was just two.
Maybe when I am bigger,
I can be 'Daddy' for me and for you.
poem © snj
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Ron his senior year at Texas
A&M and in uniform ; photos curtousy of the Forrester
family
| 15 March 1947. Wayne
and Neva Forrester of Odessa, Texas, welcome into the world
identical twins, Ronald and Donald. Another son, Larry, joins the
family three years later. |
| 1969. Ron Forrester
graduates from Texas A&M, having achieved the rank of Second
Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. A short time later,
Ron weds Jana Hamilton, also of Odessa. The following year, a
baby girl, given the name of Karoni Lynn, becomes part of the
family. |
| August 1972. Ron
Forrester heads to Vietnam to begin his tour of duty. |
| 31 August 1972. Ron
sends his first letter back home; he was, at the time, in the
Philippines. The next day, Ron arrives at the "Rose Garden" in Nam
Phong. He was assigned to the Marine All Weather Attack Squadron
533. |
| 25 December 1972. Ron
pens letter number twenty-three to his parents. He writes of the
Bob Hope show that had been at the base the day before; Ron had
been an escort and had met most of the entertainers. He chats
about the play-off game between Dallas and the 49ers. He states
how he had flown "number forty-six" on Christmas Eve, and that he
shouldn't have any trouble getting a hundred missions "before
this thing is over." He closes this letter, as he did all of
them, with "Give Karoni a kiss for me." |
| 26 December 1972. Hanoi
informs the Nixon administration that they will resume peace
negotiations; they are ready to play "Let's Make a Deal." Nixon
isn't ready; he will lay it on them three more days. |
| 27 December 1972. Capt.
Ralph J. Chipman was the pilot of an Intruder assigned a mission
over North Vietnam; Ron was his co-pilot. The aircraft did not
return from the mission, and last contact was made with the crew
over the target area. |
| 29 December 1972. The
doorbell ominously sounds at Jana and Karoni's home, then,
shortly thereafter, at the Forrester house. The two Marine
officers in dress tell the tale. A Colonel Wilson carries with
him a message of condolence and hope from the
Commandant of the Marine Corps. |
| "Ron Forrester was ever so much more than
name, rank, serial number and date he disappeared. He was
someone's brother, twin, son, ex-husband, father, best friend. He
was the finest person I've ever met." With these words, Mr.
Robert Routh, one of Ron's closest, if not best, friends, shared
with me his memories of Ron, allowing me to learn more about a
man who went MIA four and a half years before I was born. I
compiled e-mail exchanges between Mr. Routh and myself to create
this special remembrance. You will laugh, and you will cry, but
most importantly, you will learn that Ronald Wayne Forrester
really was (is) more than just a name on a black, granite
wall. |
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