thedrifter
05-19-06, 07:47 AM
After a 38-Year Wait, An Etching on the Wall
4 Names Join Vietnam Veterans Memorial
By Sue Anne Pressley Montes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 19, 2006; B03
Everyone else knew him as "Red," because of his flaming hair. But at home, he was always "Bobby," his family said. And he was a good, big brother.
Robert Patrick Rumley Jr. died at age 25 on May 18, 1968, from wounds he suffered as a Marine captain in Vietnam. But it took exactly 38 years -- and the determined efforts of his siblings -- to get his name etched on the black granite expanse of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
"Obviously, this means a great sense of closure -- it's like having a wound heal properly," said his brother, Mark Rumley, 53, of Boston as he stood next to the Wall yesterday. "But more than that, I think it's best described as an affirmation of the truth about our brother's sacrifice. And he's finally taking his place with his comrades."
Four names, including Rumley's, were added this week to the monument in what has become nearly an annual ritual. Almost every year at this time, just before Memorial Day, a few more names are inscribed after approval by the Department of Defense, said Lisa Gough, spokeswoman for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. The names are usually etched in whatever empty spaces are available, she said, and placed as close as possible to others with the same casualty dates. In most instances, these names were not included when the Wall was erected in 1982 because of lost medical records, other missing documents or some other oversight.
Often, as in Rumley's case, it is the relatives who end up making the appeal. For years, his family was troubled that the name of their beloved son and brother was not on the Wall. They were never sure why not. Rumley died 20 months after the helicopter he was riding in was shot down by enemy fire, and he never recovered from his wounds. His parents, who have since died, were so devastated by his death that they did not have the heart to pursue the matter, Mark Rumley said.
But a few years ago, Bobby Rumley's siblings decided to take up the cause.
"It was certainly a cumbersome process," said Mark Rumley, a lawyer. "There's no real road map. We had to file three different petitions dealing with medical records and military records."
But all that was behind them yesterday as he and two brothers, Michael, 62, and Jon, 45, also of Boston, leaned forward to watch as stonecutter Jim Lee carefully etched "Robert P. Rumley Jr." into the granite.
Others included this week were Army Spec. Bobby Gene Barbre of Carmi, Ill.; Marine Lance Cpl. George Bryant Givens Jr. of Robards, Ky.; and Marine Pfc. Hans Jorg Rudolph Lorenz of Midland, Ontario, Canada.
The additions, which will become official when they are read at a Memorial Day ceremony May 29, bring the number of names on the Wall to 58,253.
"Every name is special," said Lee, of Great Panes Glassworks Inc. in Denver, which has etched several hundred names on the Wall since 1986. "Every name added further completes the memorial."
The years seemed to fade away as the Rumley brothers remembered Bobby, the oldest son. "There was no back step in his personality. If he began something, he'd see it through," said Mark Rumley, who was 15 when his brother died. "It's a bittersweet thing. It seems like I'm 15 again today, and I'm not."
After graduating from Boston College in 1965 with a business degree, Bobby Rumley joined the Marines and went to Vietnam in the spring of 1966. He was platoon commander on Sept. 2, 1966, when the Viet Cong began firing mortar rounds at the Chinook helicopter he was in. In a tribute recently written for the family, one of the men in his platoon, Ernest "Doc" Ellis, described Rumley as "an intense fighter" who "never surrendered to his injuries," even as guerrilla fighters got within 10 meters of him.
"He remained calm, cool, collected, and always in command," Ellis wrote. " . . . He answered his country's call to arms and forged his answer with honor, courage, and patriotism."
As tourists milled about them yesterday, the Rumley brothers watched Lee do his work, a painstaking technique that takes only about 10 minutes but requires careful attention to stroke and depth to match the other names.
They will be back soon, the brothers say, for the Memorial Day program, along with about 30 relatives. But before they left yesterday, they stepped forward to do what so many visitors to the memorial do.
With tears in their eyes, they each took pencil and paper and made a rubbing of their brother's name.
Ellie
4 Names Join Vietnam Veterans Memorial
By Sue Anne Pressley Montes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 19, 2006; B03
Everyone else knew him as "Red," because of his flaming hair. But at home, he was always "Bobby," his family said. And he was a good, big brother.
Robert Patrick Rumley Jr. died at age 25 on May 18, 1968, from wounds he suffered as a Marine captain in Vietnam. But it took exactly 38 years -- and the determined efforts of his siblings -- to get his name etched on the black granite expanse of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
"Obviously, this means a great sense of closure -- it's like having a wound heal properly," said his brother, Mark Rumley, 53, of Boston as he stood next to the Wall yesterday. "But more than that, I think it's best described as an affirmation of the truth about our brother's sacrifice. And he's finally taking his place with his comrades."
Four names, including Rumley's, were added this week to the monument in what has become nearly an annual ritual. Almost every year at this time, just before Memorial Day, a few more names are inscribed after approval by the Department of Defense, said Lisa Gough, spokeswoman for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. The names are usually etched in whatever empty spaces are available, she said, and placed as close as possible to others with the same casualty dates. In most instances, these names were not included when the Wall was erected in 1982 because of lost medical records, other missing documents or some other oversight.
Often, as in Rumley's case, it is the relatives who end up making the appeal. For years, his family was troubled that the name of their beloved son and brother was not on the Wall. They were never sure why not. Rumley died 20 months after the helicopter he was riding in was shot down by enemy fire, and he never recovered from his wounds. His parents, who have since died, were so devastated by his death that they did not have the heart to pursue the matter, Mark Rumley said.
But a few years ago, Bobby Rumley's siblings decided to take up the cause.
"It was certainly a cumbersome process," said Mark Rumley, a lawyer. "There's no real road map. We had to file three different petitions dealing with medical records and military records."
But all that was behind them yesterday as he and two brothers, Michael, 62, and Jon, 45, also of Boston, leaned forward to watch as stonecutter Jim Lee carefully etched "Robert P. Rumley Jr." into the granite.
Others included this week were Army Spec. Bobby Gene Barbre of Carmi, Ill.; Marine Lance Cpl. George Bryant Givens Jr. of Robards, Ky.; and Marine Pfc. Hans Jorg Rudolph Lorenz of Midland, Ontario, Canada.
The additions, which will become official when they are read at a Memorial Day ceremony May 29, bring the number of names on the Wall to 58,253.
"Every name is special," said Lee, of Great Panes Glassworks Inc. in Denver, which has etched several hundred names on the Wall since 1986. "Every name added further completes the memorial."
The years seemed to fade away as the Rumley brothers remembered Bobby, the oldest son. "There was no back step in his personality. If he began something, he'd see it through," said Mark Rumley, who was 15 when his brother died. "It's a bittersweet thing. It seems like I'm 15 again today, and I'm not."
After graduating from Boston College in 1965 with a business degree, Bobby Rumley joined the Marines and went to Vietnam in the spring of 1966. He was platoon commander on Sept. 2, 1966, when the Viet Cong began firing mortar rounds at the Chinook helicopter he was in. In a tribute recently written for the family, one of the men in his platoon, Ernest "Doc" Ellis, described Rumley as "an intense fighter" who "never surrendered to his injuries," even as guerrilla fighters got within 10 meters of him.
"He remained calm, cool, collected, and always in command," Ellis wrote. " . . . He answered his country's call to arms and forged his answer with honor, courage, and patriotism."
As tourists milled about them yesterday, the Rumley brothers watched Lee do his work, a painstaking technique that takes only about 10 minutes but requires careful attention to stroke and depth to match the other names.
They will be back soon, the brothers say, for the Memorial Day program, along with about 30 relatives. But before they left yesterday, they stepped forward to do what so many visitors to the memorial do.
With tears in their eyes, they each took pencil and paper and made a rubbing of their brother's name.
Ellie