Member Don Allee honors those who served.

Recently, the City of San Antonio was the location of a reunion of members of the U. S. Naval Academy class of 1962 organized by Don Allee and other local members of the class. One of the planned events was a ceremony at the Vietnam Memorial. Graduates of the Naval Academy can be commissioned as officers in the Navy or Marine Corps (and historically, in the Army and Air Force). Many members of the  class served in Vietnam. Some were stationed on ships that either provided gunfire support for operations ashore, or operated with aircraft carriers from which air strikes were launched. Those on ships at sea had the safest missions. Those exposed to the greatest danger were the Marines ashore and the Naval Aviators who flew fighter and attack aircraft or  helicopters providing support to the troops ashore or attacking enemy forces and installations in North and South Vietnam. Seventeen members of the class perished in Vietnam; others were captured and became POW’s. The scene depicted in the Vietnam Memorial was taken from a battle that took place in Vietnam in April 1967 when a large force of North Vietnamese tried to overrun the air field located at Khe San. A member of the class of 1962, Ray Madonna, now a retired Lieutenant Colonel, U. S. Marine Corps, was a Marine company commander at the time and participated in the battle. The Vietnam Memorial in San Antonio was the project of a group of citizens, including John Baines, who commissioned the memorial. On Saturday, May 10^th, following a memorial brunch where all deceased classmates were remembered and honored, members of the U.S. Naval Academy class of 1962 held a memorial service at the Vietnam Memorial in San Antonio. As host, Don Allee, a retired Navy Captain and member of the Boerne Rotary Club,  introduced John Baines who told the group about how the memorial had been planned, funded and constructed on the site. Ray Madonna was then introduced and told the group about the battle and his involvement in the battle. One photograph is of John Baines, Ray Madonna and Don Allee as they are speaking to the group at the memorial, which included classmates, spouses and friends.  The group photograph is of members of the class of 1962 gathered around the monument.