Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of my brother, Daniel Howard Lawler 5th Special Forces, in Vietnam. And I'd like to honor him here, where a lot of members are also Vietnam Vets.
Daniel was always a larger than life figure to me. I was only five years old when he was killed and I remember so little about him.
The last time I saw him was when he came home for Christmas of '66 and I remember going with the family down to Homestead AFB to see him off just after New Years '67. One moment that stands out in my mind is at my kindergarten graduation just days after he passed away. It was still unreal to me and I didn't understand death very well at that age. When my name was called to the stage, the person announcing the names added: "And Tom's brother was just killed in Vietnam." I remember thinking that at that point it was real if someone in authority had announced it and I broke down and cried right there at the graduation. My parents didn't talk about it much in the years up to their deaths and I rarely brought it up. My sister's rememberences of him were always of them growing up and little of his time after joining first the Air Force, then transferring to the Army and Special Forces.
I want to thank OLDNAVYMCPO (Jim) for directing me to some websites that shed some light on things I didn't know about Dan.
Daniel was always a larger than life figure to me. I was only five years old when he was killed and I remember so little about him.
The last time I saw him was when he came home for Christmas of '66 and I remember going with the family down to Homestead AFB to see him off just after New Years '67. One moment that stands out in my mind is at my kindergarten graduation just days after he passed away. It was still unreal to me and I didn't understand death very well at that age. When my name was called to the stage, the person announcing the names added: "And Tom's brother was just killed in Vietnam." I remember thinking that at that point it was real if someone in authority had announced it and I broke down and cried right there at the graduation. My parents didn't talk about it much in the years up to their deaths and I rarely brought it up. My sister's rememberences of him were always of them growing up and little of his time after joining first the Air Force, then transferring to the Army and Special Forces.
I want to thank OLDNAVYMCPO (Jim) for directing me to some websites that shed some light on things I didn't know about Dan.