thedrifter
03-26-05, 12:41 PM
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Vet finds closure in Avella
By John Richards, Staff writer
jrichard@observer-reporter.com
Jesse Cortez stood poised over a modest headstone at Franklin Cemetery, the final resting place of a man he called friend when the two served in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam.
He held his hand over his heart Thursday in the tranquil silence of a crisp March morning, saying hello to an old confidant while at the same time saying goodbye, ending a long search for his fallen comrade.
Cortez traveled more than 800 miles from his home in Topeka, Kan., to meet the family of his friend, Cpl. Ray Otis Simons Jr., who was killed in the Quang Tri province of Vietnam Jan. 26, 1968. He was 22 years old.
Cortez has spent the last 36 years searching for the Avella family. He knew Ray Simons only a few short months during his 13-month tour with the Marine Corps' 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, but it was long enough for the two to develop a bond.
Cortez and his wife, Becky, arrived in Avella late Tuesday, anticipating a meeting he has awaited since the day he had to identify his friend's lifeless body before it was shipped back to his family for burial in the cemetery just over the West Virginia line in Wellsburg.
"It's pretty relieving," Cortez said after laying flowers at his friend's grave. "I searched for him for a long time."
It was only through the Internet that six months ago Cortez came across the name of Independence Township tax collector Karen Simons, who is married to Ray Simons' older brother Tom.
The prospect of meeting Cortez decades after his younger brother's death was exciting for Tom Simons and the Simons family.
"He knew my brother as a man. I knew him as a kid before he went over there," Tom Simons said, calling it a reunion of sorts.
Ray Simons, while a Marine rifleman, worked an office job in Danang when he and Cortez met in 1967.
In January 1968, Ray Simons received orders to embark on a search-and-destroy mission with a group of Marines. It was just a few short days before the start of the Tet Offensive, a coordinated series of surprise attacks by North Vietnamese forces during the Vietnamese New Year, thought by many to be the turning point in the war.
Details about Ray Simons' last day are sketchy, but during a night patrol, the unit apparently came across an enemy bunker. As the Marines approached the bunker, Ray Simons stumbled on a sleeping sentry, awaking him. The two struggled but Simons was killed, his brother said.
He was scheduled to head home on leave the next day to see his wife, Doris, and their daughter Lauri, who was born while he was overseas.
"That's all you had back then was your wife and kid and a dream to come home," Cortez said.
For many years, Cortez believed he should have been on that patrol.
"I've always had a sort of guilt complex because he went out instead of me," he said. "It was probably the worst thing I've ever dealt with."
Cortez himself is lucky he returned home. He was struck by shrapnel from an enemy rocket near the end of his tour.
"I loved the Marine Corps. But to see all them guys (die) ... It was a lot to deal with," he said.
Whether servicemen were drafted or volunteered, there was little that could prepare them for the horrors of the conflict in Vietnam.
Cortez remembers arriving in the region aboard an amphibious assault ship, a floating helipad of sorts, when medivac helicopters began landing to evacuate wounded Marines.
"The medivacs were the first thing I saw," he said. "Two guys got out of the helicopter carrying a stretcher and this guy was just pounding on another guy's chest trying to save his life."
Cortez was 20 years old.
"You know that chill you get down the back of your neck when you're walking down a dark alley? I had that the whole time I was over there," the now-57-year-old remembered.
At first, it was natural to want to befriend other Marines but that feeling was short-lived, he said.
"You really didn't want to make friends because you didn't know whether they were going to be there the next day," Cortez said.
Ray Simons was different, though. He constantly spoke of his family, Cortez said. A photograph of his wife and daughter sat on his desk in Danang, a reminder that a peaceful, more sane world existed outside of the war zone.
Cortez, accompanied by a handful of Ray Simons' brothers, on Wednesday visited his friend's mother, 91-year-old Elizabeth Simons.
"This brings back a lot of memories," said Avella's only Gold Star Mother, slightly overwhelmed by the number of visitors.
Ron Simons, another of Ray's seven brothers, then accompanied Cortez to PNC Bank at Washington Crown Center, North Franklin Township, to meet Lauri Dubich, the daughter his friend never knew.
The meeting was uneasy at first but within minutes the two had made plans to get together one evening while Cortez and his wife were in town.
"It's a little overwhelming," Dubich said. "You have a thousand questions to ask and when he shows up you forget them all."
She will have time to ask. Cortez plans to stay until Easter.
He wants to again visit Ray Simons' grave before then to spend time there by himself.
"It would have been nice to do something to prevent this from happening," Cortez said. "But, he could have been one of those who never came back."
Ray Otis Simons Jr. was one of 7,882 servicemen who died in Quang Tri province, one of the 14,536 Marines killed during the Vietnam conflict and one of 58,152 names engraved on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Ellie
Rest In Peace
:(
Vet finds closure in Avella
By John Richards, Staff writer
jrichard@observer-reporter.com
Jesse Cortez stood poised over a modest headstone at Franklin Cemetery, the final resting place of a man he called friend when the two served in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam.
He held his hand over his heart Thursday in the tranquil silence of a crisp March morning, saying hello to an old confidant while at the same time saying goodbye, ending a long search for his fallen comrade.
Cortez traveled more than 800 miles from his home in Topeka, Kan., to meet the family of his friend, Cpl. Ray Otis Simons Jr., who was killed in the Quang Tri province of Vietnam Jan. 26, 1968. He was 22 years old.
Cortez has spent the last 36 years searching for the Avella family. He knew Ray Simons only a few short months during his 13-month tour with the Marine Corps' 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, but it was long enough for the two to develop a bond.
Cortez and his wife, Becky, arrived in Avella late Tuesday, anticipating a meeting he has awaited since the day he had to identify his friend's lifeless body before it was shipped back to his family for burial in the cemetery just over the West Virginia line in Wellsburg.
"It's pretty relieving," Cortez said after laying flowers at his friend's grave. "I searched for him for a long time."
It was only through the Internet that six months ago Cortez came across the name of Independence Township tax collector Karen Simons, who is married to Ray Simons' older brother Tom.
The prospect of meeting Cortez decades after his younger brother's death was exciting for Tom Simons and the Simons family.
"He knew my brother as a man. I knew him as a kid before he went over there," Tom Simons said, calling it a reunion of sorts.
Ray Simons, while a Marine rifleman, worked an office job in Danang when he and Cortez met in 1967.
In January 1968, Ray Simons received orders to embark on a search-and-destroy mission with a group of Marines. It was just a few short days before the start of the Tet Offensive, a coordinated series of surprise attacks by North Vietnamese forces during the Vietnamese New Year, thought by many to be the turning point in the war.
Details about Ray Simons' last day are sketchy, but during a night patrol, the unit apparently came across an enemy bunker. As the Marines approached the bunker, Ray Simons stumbled on a sleeping sentry, awaking him. The two struggled but Simons was killed, his brother said.
He was scheduled to head home on leave the next day to see his wife, Doris, and their daughter Lauri, who was born while he was overseas.
"That's all you had back then was your wife and kid and a dream to come home," Cortez said.
For many years, Cortez believed he should have been on that patrol.
"I've always had a sort of guilt complex because he went out instead of me," he said. "It was probably the worst thing I've ever dealt with."
Cortez himself is lucky he returned home. He was struck by shrapnel from an enemy rocket near the end of his tour.
"I loved the Marine Corps. But to see all them guys (die) ... It was a lot to deal with," he said.
Whether servicemen were drafted or volunteered, there was little that could prepare them for the horrors of the conflict in Vietnam.
Cortez remembers arriving in the region aboard an amphibious assault ship, a floating helipad of sorts, when medivac helicopters began landing to evacuate wounded Marines.
"The medivacs were the first thing I saw," he said. "Two guys got out of the helicopter carrying a stretcher and this guy was just pounding on another guy's chest trying to save his life."
Cortez was 20 years old.
"You know that chill you get down the back of your neck when you're walking down a dark alley? I had that the whole time I was over there," the now-57-year-old remembered.
At first, it was natural to want to befriend other Marines but that feeling was short-lived, he said.
"You really didn't want to make friends because you didn't know whether they were going to be there the next day," Cortez said.
Ray Simons was different, though. He constantly spoke of his family, Cortez said. A photograph of his wife and daughter sat on his desk in Danang, a reminder that a peaceful, more sane world existed outside of the war zone.
Cortez, accompanied by a handful of Ray Simons' brothers, on Wednesday visited his friend's mother, 91-year-old Elizabeth Simons.
"This brings back a lot of memories," said Avella's only Gold Star Mother, slightly overwhelmed by the number of visitors.
Ron Simons, another of Ray's seven brothers, then accompanied Cortez to PNC Bank at Washington Crown Center, North Franklin Township, to meet Lauri Dubich, the daughter his friend never knew.
The meeting was uneasy at first but within minutes the two had made plans to get together one evening while Cortez and his wife were in town.
"It's a little overwhelming," Dubich said. "You have a thousand questions to ask and when he shows up you forget them all."
She will have time to ask. Cortez plans to stay until Easter.
He wants to again visit Ray Simons' grave before then to spend time there by himself.
"It would have been nice to do something to prevent this from happening," Cortez said. "But, he could have been one of those who never came back."
Ray Otis Simons Jr. was one of 7,882 servicemen who died in Quang Tri province, one of the 14,536 Marines killed during the Vietnam conflict and one of 58,152 names engraved on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Ellie
Rest In Peace
:(