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Author's Name: Robert Harrison

Title: "My best friend"

My best friend was Ronnie Cullers.  We grew up together from diapers, doing everything in grade school and high school, football, baseball, basketball, scouts... Ron was in my wedding.  In 1966, Ron, in the Marine Corps at Paris Island and I in the army at Fort Bragg, spent that last Christmas together as we both were on orders for Nam.  We were both 2nd Lieutenants.  We had all these plans for getting together during our R&R and joked where would we go.  When Ron left, that last time, he said to his wife ‘that might be the last time I ever see Bob again.’  Then, that horrible day when my mother called to tell me that Ron had died at Khe Sanh.  Later, due to a pentagon error, changing my orders, and my time remaining in service went under a year and I could not be sent to Nam.  Then, I would become a battery commander and later have duty as a death notification officer.  I told others, “you don’t have to go to Vietnam to fight that war!”