Robert
F. Starbuck died a hero in Vietnam on February 4, 1967. Only 25, he was a sergeant of an elite RECON
Marine detachment holding a hill against overwhelming odds. He was awarded the Silver Star, one of our
armed forces’ highest decorations for bravery.
Bob
and I were football teammates, high school classmates, and friends. He was very
likeable and decent. His death must have
been shattering to his family. When I learned, much later than 1967, of his
death, I pondered what I could do in his memory. Moving back to Walden, I found
that our high school, Valley Central, held an annual awards ceremony for
members of the athletic teams. I established the Robert F. Starbuck Captain’s
Award in his honor, going each year to the captain of the football team, in
recognition of Bob’s leadership, courage, strength, and service to our country.
Recently,
a memorial ceremony was held in honor of our local servicemen who died. There
is never enough we can do to thank such people.
The
story of Bob’s last battle is one of those in the book, Honor the Warrior: The
United States Marine Corps in Vietnam, by William L. Myers, published in
2000. Mr. Myers dedicates his book to the nearly 15,000 members of the U.S.
Marine Corps who died in Viet Nam. His dedication includes this excerpt from a
poem by Laurence Binyon:
But they shall not grow old
As we who are left grow old.
Age will not weary them, nor the years
condemn,
But at the going down of the sun and
in the morning
We will remember them.
We
do remember.
###
From my TING AND I: A MEMOIR OF LOVE, COURAGE, AND DEVOTION
https://www.amazon.com/Ting-Memoir-Love-Courage-Devotion-ebook/dp/B005NJHFWY/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=ting+and+I%3A+a+memoir&qid=1590428236&s=books&sr=1-1
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