MEMORIAL DAY: Remembering a friend
On Memorial Day after our VFW Post 1473 Spirit Lake completes ceremonies at 11 a.m. at the Blanchard cemetery and noon at the Spirit Lake cemetery, I will drive to Spokane Memorial Gardens to visit the grave marker for PFC Richard Thomas (Tommy) Dutro. Tommy was killed in action on 19 June 1968. He was my best friend in Vietnam. He was my hoochmate when we were in base camp at Lai Khe with the 2nd battalion 28th Infantry, 1st ID. When in Lai Khe we would have some beer and listen to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It had just come out the year before and we loved it. So on Memorial Day at his marker, I will open a beer for him and one for me and play Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and drink my beer. He was a fearless combat medic and a great American.
SKIP JIRU
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