Posted by Daniel C Balough on October 8, 2021:

I met Ron at school but really didn't know him well. Our real connection began in Vietnam where we both served in the 1/5th Inf, 2/25th. When the 25th went home, Ron and I went to the 5th Division on the DMZ. Our orders allowed for 5 days of travel. We got the the first flight out from Long Binh to Danang and spent the next 4 days on an in-country R&R at Wonder Beach. I had a great time but Ron was waiting for the MPs to arrest us the entire time. I couldn't convince him that our orders were perfectly valid. That was April 1971. In June we went on R&R together in Hong Kong and despite a typhoon we had another great time. This time he was afraid we would be late returning to RVN. %hat was Ron simply the best friend one could ever have. His combination of humor and pragmatism - pragmatism usually won out, was infectious. Ron, Rick Whitaker and I went to every Army-Navy game together from 1997-2018. Finally, Ron was the Godfather of the Cadets on the exchange to Navy. He fed them, housed them and mentored them for almost 40 years. He is esteemed and revered by hundreds of those Exchange Cadets and deservedly so. We have a classic photo of 6 classmates in a line as we prepared to leave the 25th - Dick Simmons, Rick Whitaker, Steve Fall, Mark Kannenberg, me and Luke. We have taken a copycat photo of that lineup at every reunion since 1979. There are now two black creped figures - Ron and Steve Fall. I can't believe he's gone. It is humanity's great loss. They don't make them like Luke anymore...

admin