Did you ever have the opportunity to fulfill a fallen brothers wish after returning from overseas ?

I had a new Sgt join the company and in long nights on 3 man listening post duty he would talk about his younger brother he left at home and how hard the separation was and if anything happened to him his brother would be taken care of.

Only a few weeks after his joining the company we were involved in an NVA battalion sized ambush and the Sgt was killed. I was wounded along with 8 others that day, but we were stuck because no dustoff could approach the area. We ended up waiting 6 hours for sundown when they finally were able to bring APCs up to extract the KIA and WIA. The hauled us back over the paddies where transport slicks had landed, dustoffs still weren't allowed in the area. We had no medics aboard but were just a short flight from South of Saigon to the 93rd evac hospital in Long Binh. I wasn't aware we had lost our Sgt until they threw us on the floor of the slick and I looked over to see the new Sgt I enjoyed talking to lying dead rolled in a poncho.

After years and the advent of the internet I searched and searched and finally located a family member of his and through them his younger brother. I was able to give his brother details he sorely searched years for as he said all they got was the telegram and he knew nothing about how or where his brother died. Since then every memorial day I have sent him a remembrance that his platoonmates have not forgotten his brother. He did tell me he found comfort in knowing his brother and I shared our last chopper ride in Vietnam and his brother wasn't alone that day.

Never forget for me is not a saying, it's a way of life.

His name is etched on the memorial wall of our Brigade HQ at Ft Benning. Sgt. John Bezecny. RIP brother.