I hope this is a reply to Steve. I enjoyed meeting you at the reunion in Detroit some years back, and I marvel at how you carry your story forward. I also think of you every time I break out my ironing board. Margo is always with me, but especially at this time of the year. Dale Pack and I reconnect around this time and discuss the sorry excuse of a hole we tried to fit into on the 16th.

LZ Margo was a lifetime ago and at times, the memories of that day seem almost surreal. I don't know about any of you, but I find myself reminiscing about my youth more and more with each passing day. I frequently ask myself did I really do this or that? The years have muddied the memories of a time when I was young, invincible, and full of energy. Now I'm at the other end of the spectrum. LZ Margo changed my life forever, as I'm sure it did for many of you as well. I often think about what my life would have been like had I not served in the Marine Corps. Even though September 16, 1968, changed my life physically and mentally forever, my life has been and continues to be so very, very blessed. What appeared just to be the "dumb luck" of a 19-year old kid…

The reason I'm writing is that I just read that Gunnery Sgt Teddy Banks has passed away. I went to recon school with Teddy and Rivers and we with others from recon school got to Vietnam we were assigned to the 26th Marines instead of recon upon reporting in aboard the USS Princeton. On the 16th when I got hit and laying in a foxhole all of a sudden Teddy Banks fell in front of me wounded bleeding from his arms and hand, he couldn't use his rifle so I pulled him in with us until the incoming stopped. I was med-evaced to Dong Ha, Da Nang then to Guam. I never saw Teddy again. We lost a lot of friends that day and I often think of what happened to Teddy and I'm said to hear of his passing. RIP GUNNERY SGT TEDDY BANKS. SEMPER FI

I hope this finds you all doing well. I'm not going to wish you a Happy Memorial Day because personally, there's nothing happy about today to me. Today is a solemn day that we remember those who have sacrificed their lives for our country. To be honest, just about every day is Memorial Day to me. Seldom a day passes that I don't think about those we lost at LZ Margo and elsewhere. Sometimes it's a song, a sound or a smell, but it doesn't take much for those memories to come flooding back. Memorial Day is also a day that reminds me of how very blessed my life has been. I've experienced things that so many never got to enjoy. For that I'm forever grateful. Semper Fi and God Bless.