Vietnam War forged a friendship

The town of Springfield proclaimed Wednesday “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day.” A dinner honoring them was held at VFW Post 771 that evening. Two best friends attending grew up in neighboring towns but never met each other until both were stationed at a Marine base hundreds of miles from home. http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110401/NEWS02/704019879

Published April 1, 2011 in the Rutland Herald

Vietnam War forged a friendship

By SUSAN SMALLHEER

SPRINGFIELD — Ronnie Walker and Ronald Farrar grew up in neighboring towns in southern Vermont; both served in the front lines of the Vietnam War.

But they met in Quantico, Va., in 1967 while training other Marines, and forged a bond like brothers that is strong to this day.

The two men now live in Baltimore and Chester, and were two of the 50 Vietnam War veterans who were honored Wednesday at a special dinner at the Robert L. Johnson Post 771, Veterans of Foreign Wars in Springfield.

The Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association of Vermont joined with the VFW post to honor the Vietnam vets, who organizers said never got a warm welcome home.

Wednesday’s dinner and speakers were a step to right that wrong, said Kurt Merriman, himself a Vietnam-era vet and a veteran of Desert Storm as well.

“This is a long overdue tribute to our beloved Vietnam Veterans,” said Merriman. “We are honored to be in your company.”

The town of Springfield proclaimed Wednesday “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day.”

The vets, most dressed in blue jeans and wearing plaid shirts under leather vests decorated with a multitude of embroidered patches, were a jovial lot Wednesday, as they talked about life in Vermont, not necessarily a long-ago war in Southeast Asia that divided the country.

Walker, 64, and Farrar, 66, met at the Marine training center in Quantico, as the two veterans trained second lieutenants on weapons procedures and manuevers. It came after their tour of duty in Vietnam.

Walker had enlisted in the Marines shortly after graduating from Springfield High School. He chose the Marines because, he said, he liked their reputation for excellence and excellent training.

He wanted the best training in order to cope with what Marines faced in Vietnam, he said. He was part of “The Walking Dead,” a company of Marines that had the highest mortality rate in the Corps.

He spent four years in the Marines and left “because I wanted to be a cop.”

Walker spent 10 years with the Springfield police, eventually working in Windsor, Woodstock and the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department as well. He is now 100 percent disabled.

Walker said his return was neither hot nor cold. “We weren’t shunned, but nobody greeted us either. There were no parades.”

Walker and Farrar have been close friends for 44 years. “Like brothers,” is how Walker described it.

Farrar, who has been a dairy farmer, bus driver and contractor, said he couldn’t remember why he enlisted in the Marines back then.

A graduate of Chester High School, he was a student at the University of Vermont, studying agricultural engineering, when he realized he would be eligible for the draft because his college program was five years long.

In Vietnam, Farrar was part of Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines.

He said on his return to Vermont, he didn’t experience hostility.

“I wasn’t ostracized, it was more passe, blasé. Nobody really said anything,” he said. “There weren’t any bands meeting your bus.”

Farrar and his wife Adrienne, whom he met at UVM, said college didn’t work for the young Marine after he was discharged: He suffered from post-traumatic stress and flashbacks.

“I couldn’t stay in school, I couldn’t concentrate,” he said.

Farrar served in the Marines from 1966 to 1968. He enlisted when he was 21 and was 23 when he came home.

“The men grew old and the boys grew up,” he said.

The two friends never met in Vermont nor Vietnam, although both of them had dangerous assignments:

Farrar was a machine-gunner. “His life expectancy was a minute and a half,” Walker said of his friend. Farrar said his assignment was being dropped out of a helicopter and establishing landing zones for other units.

Walker, a former Springfield police officer, is on full disability as a result of injuries he sustained in Vietnam. He was a forward observer, calling in air strikes, and was shot in the chest in 1967 during a fire fight. He received his Purple Heart from Vietnam’s top commander, Gen. William Westmoreland himself.

“I was shot on the 24th of March, 1967. They said I died twice on the operating table. I was 20 years old,” said Walker, who was a member of the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines.

Despite the wound, Walker stayed in the Corps.

“I didn’t want a medical discharge,” said Walker. “I got an honorable discharge and came home.”

The two best friends — Farrar and Walker have been best men at each other’s weddings — shared a table during the roast pork dinner: Walker and his wife Liz and Farrar and his wife Adrienne.

“This state has been great for veterans,” said Walker. “We stick together.”

Ron Walker, a veteran of the Vietnam War in the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, says the Pledge of Allegiance at the Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day dinner at VFW Post 771 in Springfield on Wednesday evening. During the Vietnam War, Walker’s unit earned the name of The Walking Dead for its high casualty rate.
Photo: Cassandra Hotaling / Staff photo