Hearing the tolling of the Bell......

Good afternoon to everyone.....I'm happy and flattered to have all of you reading this post. Now, usually I try to have something humorous on about every other post, but this time I'm going to make an exception (if you'll permit it this once). Thank you....I knew it would be ok with all of you.
I've had on my mind the last couple of days some people I knew once. Some I knew well and others more in passing, but I knew them all. These are the abbreviated stories of some of the unsung hero's of a time long past. These were guys that the bell tolled for too early. Guys whose names are on a list that includes some of the greatest names in American history. My first acknowledgment is for a cousin. His name was Larry. He was very tall, I'm guessing about 6 feet and 7 inches or so...maybe a bit more. He was drafted in his nineteenth year of life. To look at Larry one would think that he was an ordinary guy, but he had attributes that in my mind set him apart. To make a long story shorter, Larry went to Vietnam after he finished with basic training, and was assigned to a recon outfit. On his last recon he stepped on a mine and was killed.
The next guy was a Lt. Commander Threlkeld that was a pilot on an A-7 corsair in operation rolling thunder over North Vietnam. He'd dropped his bomb load and was returning to the carrier when he was shot down over the gulf of Tonkin. An A-1 reconnaissance plane circled over head keeping an eye on him through their camera lens while the chopper we called the 'angel' headed out to pick him up. While all of this was happening he was picked up by a Vietnamese fishing junk. That would ordinarily be a good thing, but one never knew who was manning those boats. If it was really fisherman it was good. It just so happened that this particular boat was manned by Viet cong. When the angel came into view of them they stood him up and shot him, then threw his body over the side of the boat into the gulf. The 'fishing boat' then headed away and the angel went in and picked up the body. At that point the Phantom alert fives were launched and destroyed the junk with everyone on board. All of this was captured on film by the A-1 that was circling over head.
So....there is little I can say that will speak more than does the lives of these heros. Even though they have all been dead for many years their memories live on in my heart and in the hearts of thousands more that lost their innocence in many places and in many ways. People that saw too much and live day to day with memories they would rather not have. More heros in later posts. .........and so it went.......