Posted by Ed Linkiewicz on March 25, 2004:

It's 2004 and you are not forgatten Dick. It was June '54 when I met Dick. We were room mates in Beast. We also grew up in the coal regions of Pennsylvania, about 20 miles from eachother. Our high schools, at that time, were in the same althletic conference. I remember our first conversation. He must have reminded me 100 times that we never beat his school in football (he was right). Well, it didn't matter, we did become friends. Dick was not the spooniest cadet and he took a lot of the heat off me and our other room mate that summer. Eternally grateful, you bet! At the end of plebe year his brother and some friends picked him up, along with me, and drove us home. I had the pleasure of waiting 3 hrs. somewhere in a pool hall in upstate NY while he and his brother and friends drank beer and played pool, all the while knowing my girl, now my wife, was waiting for me at home. At the end of leave, I left a message for him that I had arranged for a ride back. He never got the message and arrived at my house the return morning, after I had left. Now there was a truck accident on the long hill up Rt 6 that happened just before I got there and we were able to make it around the accident. Apparently, right after we got through, the truck, an oil truck, caught fire and traffic was held up for hours. I remember signing in about 2 minutes before reporting time. Dick didn't make it on time. Most of Buckner ment walking the area for Dick. So, a snow storm and a truck accident. He did not hold it against me, that I might have contributed to his being late, but he did make iy clear that he would have liked it better it if I were there walking with him He was one of the most robust individuals I have ever met. It was heartbreaking for my wife and I to see him the way was when he left us. Dick was a great guy. I was proud to know him and list him as a friend. Where ever you are Dick, you are missed and loved and I still feel guilty for not being with you walking at Buckner.

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