Colleges Remember Vietnam Veterans
5 November 2019 Colleges Remember Vietnam Veterans
The names of four alumni and one faculty member who died during the Vietnam War have been engraved on the Memorial Bench located near St. Johns Chapel and Trinity Hall. During Reunion Weekend, Hobart and William Smith Colleges dedicated the Vietnam section of the bench in a ceremony at 1:45 p.m. on Saturday, June 4.
Hobart and William Smith have a rich heritage of service to our nation in many ways: public, philanthropic and in the military, says John E. Norvell 66, P99, P02, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, decorated air combat veteran, and former assistant professor of history at the Air Force Academy. Hobart alumni have served in every war since the founding of the College. Members of both Colleges, as well as faculty, served in World War II and are remembered on a large plaque in the entrance to Coxe Hall. These honored dead of Vietnam will now join those so honored in the past.
The HWS-affiliated Vietnam Veterans to be honored include:
Major Theodore J. Shorack Jr. HON 66
Air Force ROTC at Hobart 1961-1965
June 9, 1966 Plane crash on patrol
PFC Thom T. Osborn 67
United States Army
Jan. 28, 1966 Died on Patrol SVN
Corp. James K. Kirkby 68
Medical Corps, United States Army
Feb. 02, 1970 Explosive Device in Quang Tin, SVN
Major Charles C. Winston III 61
United States Air Force
Aug. 1, 1967 RF-101 photoreconnaissance aircraft shot down NVN
Captain Robert Beale 61
United States Marine Corps
March 17, 1967 Died in aircraft near Quang Nam SVN
These were men who walked the nearby streets, says Norvell, who has written for national newspapers and historical journals including The Washington Post. They were young with their lives ahead of them. They left behind friends from Hobart and William Smith. They kissed their mothers and wives and went off to serve. They never returned here to see the shores of Seneca Lake. They all died in a far-away country. At home their families mourned their loss and never understood why they were taken. It took the nation a long time to come to terms with Vietnam and these sacrifices. The frustrations of a divided nation were vented on those who simply did their duty and in some cases paid the price. We honor them at this Reunion for all they did and gave.
The photos above (left to right) feature Captain Robert Beale 61, PFC Thom T. Osborn 67, Major Theodore J. Shorack Jr. HON 66, Major Charles C. Winston III 61 and Corp. James K. Kirkby 68.