Posted by BG Ramon M. Ong (Ret) on May 29, 2011:

Today is Memorial Day and a good time to remember my roommate Peter J. Buckley and our times together. Pete was easily the biggest member of Company E-2, and at his skinniest he weighed 225 lbs. But he was deceptively fast and a powerhouse athlete who excelled in all sports. In P.E. Class, despair was the emotion others described as feeling, when facing him on the wrestling mat or in the boxing ring. I belonged to a much smaller weight class, so I never had to face him and match my athletic prowess with his. I was quite content to sit in the sidelines and feel total sympathy for my other classmates who were unlucky enough to find him as their opponent. Pete was a member of the Army Football Team where he played Guard and Tackle. I marveled at his tireless spirit, when he hit and blocked at full speed, and then get up almost as soon as he hit the ground always searching for his next human target. I never saw him the least bit tired, whether in practice or in actual competition. His fatigue showed only when he returned to our room, to take a short nap before studying for the rest of the evening. Then I knew that he had given 100% of himself out there in the playing field and needed to recuperate before attending to his other academic and barracks duties. When Football Season was over, Pete became a member of the Army Track and Field Team. Here he also excelled, tossing around various heavy objects from one end of the stadium to the other. Sometimes he practiced tossing me around, especially during the winter, when I was fast asleep in bed and unable to defend myself from being thrown out the window into the snowdrifts outside the building. Of course, he needed help from another roommate, in order to finally overpower me. All was done in good fun, at least for them. Pete was a bright student, and his brains matched his brawn. He paid attention to his books as much and as little as the rest of us, and his study routines kept his grades comfortably above the class median. This meant that he had more than enough time to write "Dear Mary" letters -- and he wrote a lot of them. I have absolutely no idea what flowery prose he put into those letters, but he never seemed to be at a loss for things to say. Apparently, he got the message across -- hook, line and sinker -- because she became Mrs. Mary Buckley soon after graduation -- and remained so, for the rest of his life. Pete and I said our goodbyes to our classmates on Graduation Day, and I never saw him again. He served his country and I served mine. We did have an opportunity in Vietnam where we were stationed at the same time, but somehow our paths never did cross in that war-torn land. I was able to contact him much later, after I had long retired from the Philippine Army -- and that is when I learned from Mary that our Pete was a very sick man. I found it hard to believe that this indestructible specimen of health and strength also had his human frailties. Finally, I said goodbye to him over the phone, knowing that I would never see him again in this life. I am glad that he could not see my face and my tears. Farewell, Peter, Memorial Day is a wonderful occasion to remember an old friend. See you soon, amigo! Ray Brigadier General Ramon M. Ong (Retired) Armed Forces of the Philippines

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