Indiana woman still mourns the loss of her Vietnam vet brother

PRINCETON, Ind. – It was 1968, and Carolyn Wolfe was sitting within the breakfast nook taking part in along with her Barbie doll.

Issues had been unusual lately. A photograph of her brother, Dick – a soldier serving with the Military in Vietnam – stored falling off the wall for seemingly no cause. And the day earlier than, she’d heard a knock at each the front and back doorways, solely to search out nobody standing exterior.

Out of the blue, there was the knock once more. Her mom, Rosemary, walked from the kitchen to reply it. This time, there was somebody exterior: a navy man in full uniform.

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Dick Wolfe, the person mentioned, had been killed in motion.

Even in spite of everything these years, Carolyn Wolfe is haunted by the lack of her brother. Not simply on Memorial Day, however each day. She mentioned her life has by no means gotten again to a semblance of normalcy.

“I nonetheless keep in mind the (funeral) ceremony (at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Princeton),” Carolyn, now 65, mentioned. “Once I heard the 21-gun salute, I assumed I died proper there.”

Wolfe, a PFC in a U.S. Military infantry rifle firm, died in Vietnam on Jan. 6, 1968 within the now-forgotten battle of Xom Bung. Carolyn was 10 years outdated.

Dick Wolfe and the Battle of Xom Bu

Dick didn’t dwell on to inform his story. However in 2017, a guide by two Oakland Metropolis College professors did it for him.

Randy Mills and his spouse, Roxanne, co-wrote “Summer season Wind: A Soldier’s Highway from Indiana to Vietnam.” It chronicles Wolfe’s time within the warfare.

Dick arrived in Vietnam in July 1967, shortly after his twenty third birthday, Randy mentioned.

“He served all however per week of his time in South Vietnam at primitive fireplace assist base camps,” Randy Mills mentioned. “In late November, his firm, Alpha, (roughly 120 males) was despatched to … a small camp northwest of Saigon and never far for the infamous Iron Triangle that was thick with enemy troopers.”

From there, American patrols have been despatched out by foot or by helicopter to battle the Viet Cong.

“The People went right into a protection place and referred to as down artillery and plane firepower,” mentioned Randy, 70. “These have been referred to as search-and-destroy patrols.” 

The enemy not often engaged. As an alternative, they have been glad to harass the People in small firefights, disappearing into the jungles earlier than American troops may reply.

Alpha Firm was on one other search-and-destroy mission on Jan. 6, in what grew to become the battle of Xom Bung. Once they walked right into a well-hidden and enormous enemy base of trenches and bunkers, they discovered Viet Cong outnumbered them by a 3-to-1 ratio.

“The enemy got here swarming from their bunkers to flank and encompass the People,” Randy mentioned.

Dick’s commanding officer ordered a retreat to the rice paddies. Dick laid down fireplace so his fellow troopers may escape. However he by no means made it out. For his bravery that day, Dick posthumously acquired the Bronze Star for Valor.

Once they discovered Dick, his rifle and helmet have been lacking. They’d apparently been taken by the Vietnamese soldier who killed him. And when the People discovered that man, they found he had been killed, too.

“He put his life on the road for our nation,” Carolyn mentioned about Dick. “It was not a well-liked warfare. (Some troopers) have been handled badly by our personal folks.”

‘He was my greatest buddy’

After Dick died, his brother Joe – now 79 after which an intelligence officer stationed in Germany – was introduced house as a result of he was the lone male member of the household left. Dick’s son, Brian, had died of pneumonia and problems from leukemia at age 6.

A fellow soldier and “motorhead” named Butch Davis was answerable for bringing Dick’s physique again to Princeton for a navy funeral. Carolyn mentioned a photograph from the ceremony was nearly surreal.

“The sunshine from the clouds above shone brightly down on the rifles and helmets” of the troopers current, she mentioned. “It was as if the heavens opened as much as shine on this straight. … The picture is surprisingly eerie.”

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All these years later, she nonetheless thinks in regards to the circumstances surrounding the loss of life of her brother, who usually glided by “Ace” — and who referred to as her “Zero” as a result of she was small. 

The image falling. Her sitting along with her sister-in-law, Sue, because the ominous knock on the door sounded by the home. How she was despatched to a buddy’s home for 2 weeks whereas her household made funeral preparations.

However there are nonetheless items of her brother round. Simply this month, she was rummaging by her closet when she discovered a trove of letters Dick had written to their mom.

“He was my greatest buddy,” she mentioned.

Contact Gordon Engelhardt by e-mail at gordon.engelhardt@courierpress.com and comply with him on Twitter @EngGordon.