Tributes Index - Avenue of Flags

Andy Hamilton

Hamilton, Andy

Hermitage, PA

U.S. Army Reserves – Iraq

Many military police security units do their best to keep people out of military installations and operational areas. Andy Hamilton’s 307th Military Police Company did that for a while on a humanitarian in El Salvador.

“We guarded engineers while they built hospitals and schools throughout the country,” he said.

But in Iraq, at Camp Bucca, he spent his time hardening the prison to make it less escapable.

Originally from a place near Barkeyville, PA, Andy joined the army in 2005 at age 18, fresh out of Franklin Area High School.

“I felt like I wanted to serve my country,” he said. “All my life I did heavy equipment operating, construction work, and farming. I decided I wanted a break from the monotony, so I joined the Military Police. And I thought it might set me up for a good career after I got out.”

After training in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Andy was assigned to the 307th Military Police Company, 320th MP Battalion in New Kensington, PA.

“We spent a lot of time doing desert training in Fort Irwin, California,” he said. “It was actually a lot of fun.”

Of course, the fun had a purpose, which was to prepare the company for deployment in Iraq. That happened in 2008, right after Andy got married.

Camp Bucca was named after Ronald Bucca, who had been an MP with the 800th Military Police Brigade, and was the New York City fire marshall who died in the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Center. Camp Bucca was developed into a model detention facility, with prisoners housed in cinder block buildings rather than tents. It even had a U.S. Army hospital to care for the detainees.

The work may have been hard, under the constant awareness that the enemy might fire a rocket into the compound at any time. But Andy’s tour in Iraq wasn’t all bad. His best memories are of the companionship among the American soldiers there.

“All of us there had a strong bond,” Andy said. “We were as close as family.

And, of course, there were the leisure time activities, such as volleyball and bocce.

“All that desert made a good volleyball court,” Andy said.

Shawn Graham

Graham, Shawn

Grove City, PA

U.S. Army – War on Terror

According to his mother, Shawn Graham was probably born to be a warrior.

When he was born in California where his father, Marine Sgt. Tom Graham, was stationed, Tom’s unit made Shawn an honorary Marine.

Shawn became a real Marine after graduating from Grove City High School in 1989. He could have chosen a number of career paths. He chose a warrior’s role: infantry. He served in the Marine Corps for ten years before leaving the Marine Corps to work in Texas, but the warrior in him couldn’t just quit. He joined the 124th Cavalry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, Texas Army National Guard.

Like a true warrior, he was eager to serve in the War on Terror. His father, Tom, was in Afghanistan with the Indiana National Guard, and his brother, Nicholas, was in Iraq with the Marine Corps when Shawn’s chance came to serve in Iraq with the Texas National Guard. Tom and Nicholas returned; Shawn didn’t. He was killed on September 25, 2005.

Shawn Graham was a uniquely American brand of warrior – not the archetypical rough, violent man, but a compassionate, caring man. On the web site, fallenheroesmemorial.com, many tributes describe him a very good friend, even a best friend. Sgt. Michael Almon wrote that “Sgt. Graham was a loving family man, outstanding soldier, and faithful friend. . . .”

Shawn remains an inspiration to those who came after him. One soldier wrote this:

“I currently serve in Baghdad in the same position doing the same job Shawn served in when he was killed. In our offices we have a memorial with his picture and details of his life and his service. I pass the memorial every day and think of his sacrifice and the sacrifice of his family. He is not forgotten, and his life and example will always be a reminder to us of the terrible price he and so many others have paid.”

Shawn’s compassion – and its source – is obvious from this: he wanted to send money to his mom so she could buy clothes at the Salvation Army and send them to him so he could give them to the Iraqi people. She told him to keep his money, and sent him boxes of stuff for him to distribute among the Iraqis.

“That’s the kind of person he was,” his mom said.

Obviously because that’s the kind of person she was.

Daniel Brozovich

Greenville, PA

U.S. Army, War on Terror

When you read the profiles of the men and women whose names appear on the Vietnam Memorial, you are overwhelmed with how young most of them were when they died – in their teens or early twenties.

Not so with the heroes of the War on Terror. Sgt. Daniel Brozovich, for example, was 42 years old when he died while on patrol in Ashraf, Iraq, on October 18, 2006.

The army of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s was made up mostly of draftees and young people who enlisted to fight in Vietnam. When the war there ended, so did military conscription. The last men drafted reported for duty in June, 1973.

So it was an all-volunteer army that fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many were career military reservists who were called to active duty.

That again was the case for Sgt. Brozovich. When he and his twin brother, David, graduated from Bedford High School in 1982, Danny joined the Marines and David joined the Air Force. Four years later, Danny moved back to Pittsburgh to work for Alcoa. But he still believed in an obligation to serve his country, so he joined the National Guard.

He married Mary June Stevens; they had a daughter, Carrie. Then he moved to Greenville to work at Werner Company. That’s where their second child, Ryan, was born. For a short time before his last deployment, he worked as a guard in state prisons, first in Fayette County and then in Findlay Township.

During his military career, Sgt. Brozovich served a tour in Germany and two tours in Iraq. Daniel’s father, Anthony, admired the way Danny’s wife handled it all, calling her a rock who supported her husband and held the family together. His final assignment was with the 107th Field Artillery Battalion in New Castle.

“When he was military, he was all military,” said his mother, Beth.

His compatriots in the army agreed with her. At the news conference in the National Guard Armory in New Castle announcing his death, Lt. Col. Grey Berrier II said Sgt. Brozovich was a charismatic leader who was “fully committed in word and deed to empowering the Iraqi people to pursue political and economic freedom. He was a man who “always led from the front.” Similar praise characterized his funeral service in Greenville.

Sgt. Brozovich was well decorated with two Bronze Stars, Purple Heart, War on Terror Expeditionary Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Pennsylvania Meritorious Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal.

Allison Angott

Angott, Allison

Allison Angott

Hermitage, PA

U.S. Air Force, Desert Storm Era

In providing for its own needs, the United States military services play vital roles in fulfilling the needs of society at large. The Shenango Valley has a family practitioner because the United States Air Force enabled Dr. Allison Angott to get her medical degree.

“Without the Air Force,” she said, “I would have had to be a specialist to pay off the debts of medical school. I say to my patients I’m your tax dollars at work. I’m here as a physician because you helped me go to medical school. And I appreciate that.”

When she needed financial aid to attend medical school, she discovered the Air Force’s medical training program. Through it, she was able to earn her degree at the University of Pittsburgh, and complete her residency in Erie.

She got her introduction to military life during month-long tours of duty each summer.

“We were sworn in as officers, wore a uniform, went to officers training and learned how to march, salute, and so forth. Each year I was at a different military hospital. I did a rotation in cardiology in Dayton, in pediatrics in San Francisco, survival training in Texas.”

When she went on active duty, she was assigned to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

“A week or two after I came on duty, Kuwait was invaded. I went on standby to be deployed as an orthopedic surgeon. That’s the only thing that made me uncomfortable during my tour. The Air Force uses their family doctors to fill in specialist slots because we have a broad range of training.”

Dr. Angott was never deployed, but her base in Montgomery expanded to receive casualties. The doctors and staff there were also trained in disaster/mass casualty exercises.

Part of Dr. Angott’s patients came from Montgomery’s large retired military population, which provided her with experience in all aspects of family practice.

Her four years of active duty provided her with more than a degree and medical experience.

“I am more appreciative of those who have gone before me and those who have given their lives for our country. I thank every serviceman I meet, and I honor the flag. I know the Constitution and a little bit more about what it means to be a citizen. I certainly didn’t pay enough attention when I took those classes in high school.”

Dr. Angott and her husband Richard have three daughters – Bethany, Leah, and Moriah.

Joseph J. Zentis

Hermitage, PA

U.S. Army – Vietnam

There’s a military maxim: “Never volunteer for anything.” Joe Zentis volunteered many times, virtually always with fortunate results.

A Distinguished Military Graduate in ROTC at Gannon College, Zentis was commissioned as a regular army officer in 1963. His volunteering for the infantry got him assigned to the 2nd Battalion 21st Infantry, 24th Infantry Division, at Warner Kaserne in Munich, Germany. Warner Kaserne is a former SS headquarters rich in both German and American military history. He served in an excellent unit, developed great friendships, and got to travel throughout Europe. One of his favorite trips resulted from his volunteering to lead a platoon on a four-day 100-mile road march in Nijmegen, Holland.

Troops in Europe could not request assignment to Vietnam until late 1965. As soon as he could, Zentis volunteered. In November, he received preliminary orders to depart for Vietnam in January.

A glitch in his orders kept him in Germany until May. During that interim, he met and married a lovely Australian lady, Edi Terfy. They recently celebrated their 47th anniversary.

Before Zentis left Germany, some of his friends who had not volunteered were assigned to combat roles with newly-deployed U.S. military units. Because he volunteered early, Zentis was assigned to a relatively safe Military Assistance Command provincial advisory team, which he found far too boring. He volunteered again for reassignment to any unit in Vietnam where he could serve a useful purpose. That got him transferred to the 23rd Vietnamese Infantry Training Center in the Ban Me Thuot, in the central highlands. The MACV compound there surrounded the former emperor Bao Dai’s spectacular “Grand Bungalow.”

The training center allowed Zentis to exercise leadership and creativity. He invented a unique pop-up target range that earned him a Bronze Star for Meritorious Service.

He describes his time there as stressful rather than horrible.

“ I didn’t have to kill anyone, and I never saw anyone killed or wounded. But every day I rode five miles between the MACV compound and the training center with my little M-1 carbine on my lap. We never knew who or what was in the trees beside the road. But we were fully aware that the area was ‘pacified’ only because the Vietcong had other priorities.”

That was proven seven months after Zentis left Vietnam, when the Vietcong easily swept through the area during the infamous famous Tet offensive. The advisors who left the compound that day were killed on their way to their units.

Because of his willingness to volunteer, Zentis suffered no ill effects from his year in Vietnam other than a weight loss from 165 to 138 pounds.

Today, 50 pounds heavier, he says, “That problem was far too easily corrected.”

Thaddeus M. Yonika, Jr.

West Middlesex, PA

U.S. Army – Vietnam

For a helicopter pilot, excellence doesn’t guarantee survival. Thaddeus M. Yonika, Jr., of West Middlesex, enlisted under the U.S. Army’s warrant officer flight program in July, 1968. In February, 1969, he demonstrated his superior ability to fly helicopters by graduating sixth out of a class of 120 from primary helicopter school in February, 1969. He went on to the Rotary Wing Aviator course.

Two months later WO1 Yonika was flying attack helicopters in Vietnam with Troop A, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Division, headquartered in Tay Ninh, northwest of Saigon, near the Cambodian border. His skill and potential were recognized by his platoon leader:

“Thad Yonika was a Cobra Pilot in my Red Platoon. He said he wanted to get closer to the fight and requested a transfer to the Scout Platoon. I approved the move reluctantly because of his great potential to become a Red Platoon Aircraft Commander but his enthusiasm to fly Scouts was really genuine and we knew that he showed some of the unique qualities that would make him a great Scout.”

WO Yonika was assigned to fly a Cayuse Light Observation Helicopter. His job was to fly over suspected enemy locations to get shot at. His crew would mark the location of the source of the fire; attack helicopters such as Cobras would swoop in to destroy the enemy.

The Cayuse had the reputation of being able to take a lot of hits and still keep flying. But it wasn’t invulnerable.

On 21 December 1969 while flying OH-6A tail number 67-16142, WO Yonika and his crew encountered a force of NVA at a location we called Pearson’s Field, near the Cambodian border. His LOH was hit by enemy fire and as he evaded away from the NVA and tried to land outside the enemy’s fire the aircraft crashed. Unfortunately, the aircraft exploded and Thad along with Chris “Kippy” Gray (gunner/ Torque) and Barry Kaletta (observer) were killed.

The son of Mr. and Mrs. Thaddeus M. Yonika, Sr., of West Middlesex, Thad was a Rotary International Exchange Student to South Africa in 1966. After graduation from West Middlesex High School in 1966, he attended Shenango Campus of Penn State University and worked as an orderly at Sharon General Hospital.

He is buried in Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery.

On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Panel W15 Line 81

George “Jig” Warren

Sharon, PA

U.S. Navy – Vietnam

LST technically stands for Landing Ship Tank, although some of its crewmen referred to them as “large slow targets.” They were some of the most remarkable pieces of equipment in Vietnam, if for no other reason than their endurance. More than 90 LSTs performed vital roles there; all but about ten of them had been built during World War II.

The large, flat-bottomed vessels were designed for hitting the beaches during the invasions in Europe and the Pacific to drop off tanks and other heavy equipment. But because of their load capacity, they were ideal for hauling large shipments of supplies and equipment, as well as armament. That made it functional for two roles: resupplying military units all up and down the whole length of South Vietnam, and patrolling the waterways and coastline of the Mekong Delta, intercepting suspicious vessels.

Jigs Warren arrived in Vietnam to serve on LST 819, Hampshire County, in February, 1967. He had graduated from Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, and attended amphibious school in San Diego before going to Vietnam.

“We moved a lot of food supplies, ammunition, building supplies.” he said, “We also, on occasion, would support river patrol boats with fuel and ammunition.”

It was grueling and dangerous work.

“I really looked at it as a job. I was never and have never been busier in my life,” he said. “We usually worked 20 to 22 hours a day and slept for three or four hours. In 18 months on board ship, I never slept for more than four hours straight.”

His 18-month tour kept him in Vietnam through the Tet offensive in early 1968.

“We had just dropped off some supplies in Hue to build an enlisted club,” he said. “We were out of there by the time the attack happened.”

Jigs said that the Hampshire County was fired upon every single day. At night in Da Nang, the sky sparkled every night with tracers, the illuminated rounds fired by automatic weapons.

“It was nothing but a curtain of tracer bullets around the entire city, every night, every night for a year ,.. that’s all you saw, the entire city engulfed in tracer bullets.”

Jigs felt compassion for the people who suffered most from the war.

“I guess the thing I remember most is the people in Vietnam who were practically overrun by military efforts all the time.”

Jack Wallace

Sharon, PA

U.S. Marine Corps – Vietnam

Trying to discover the facts about what went on in Vietnam is very tricky. Strange ideas seem to spring up out of nowhere.

For example, there is a persistent belief that Jack Wallace was a “tunnel rat” in Vietnam – one of these crazy people who would crawl into VC tunnels with a flashlight and a .45 pistol to root out the enemy. Jack himself certainly wasn’t the one who came up with that idea.

“I have no idea where that came from,” he said. “I was an electronics repairman in Chu Lai.”

Jack had enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1966. He volunteered for Vietnam several times before they finally sent him. He arrived there shortly after the 1967 Tet offensive.

What he found was a strange kind of war.

“The people who worked in our bases were from the villages around us,” he said. “Our people told you to watch them when they were walking things off. We got hit by a lot of rockets and you had to wonder how they knew where to fire them.”

Even within the U.S. military there seemed to be an element of distrust, or at least a lack of respect. Jack was stationed in Chu Lai, about 350 miles to the northeast of Saigon, as the crow flies. He got a four-day pass to visit his uncle in Saigon, but he had to figure out for himself how to get there. He caught rides on a plane, a helicopter, and a convoy. But the strangest part occurred when he got to Saigon.

“I tried to find a place to bunk on Tan Son Nhut Airbase, but they wouldn’t let me stay there because I wasn’t Air Force. The Army wouldn’t put me up, either. Finally the Navy put me up because I was a Marine, but they locked up all my weapons. I think I was the only person walking around Saigon without a weapon.”

Jack admired the people of Vietnam.

“The thing that amazed me was in some of the villages they didn’t have anything. They had years of war, but they were able to shrug it all off and raise families and be happy.”

What Jack got out of his Vietnam experience was an attitude toward life. “You have the ability to do anything you want if you try hard enough. Never give up. Don’t dwell on the past. Think of the future and press on.”

Captain Gary Lionel Vinas

Sharpsville, PA

U.S. Army – Vietnam

Captain Gary Lionel Vinas was the only Mercer County Vietnam fatality to serve in MACV – the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. He was a member of Advisory Team 99 in Duc Lap, about 80 miles southwest of the 25th ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam). Advisory Team 99 had the responsibility for advising the Division’s 49th Regiment.

MACV advisers had a very specialized and tricky role. They were expected to use their American military experience and know-advise their Vietnamese counterparts about all aspects of their unit’s operation – to recommend solutions to everything from administrative problems to tactical and operational challenges. The tricky part was persuading the Vietnamese to implement the solutions they recommended. To be effective, the adviser had to befriend his counterpart and win his confidence. One of the most effective ways to do this was to convince his counterpart that the solution was really his own idea to start with.

This was particularly important at the lowest level of the MACV operation. Regimental advisory teams were small, consisting of only three members of the United States military. They had to form very close and trusting relationships. To do that, they had to be willing to participate in every aspect of the regiment’s activities – including combat operations.

Because of the decentralization of the MACV structure, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find out what happened in a specific time and place. We have no details about the death ofCaptain Vinas, other than the fact that he was on a combat operation with the regiment he was advising. All that was reported is that he was a ground casualty as a result of an explosive device, probably a land mine.

On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Panel 10E Line 2

Richard Bruce Spence

Spence, Richard

Spence, Richard Bruce

Grove City, PA

U.S. Army – Vietnam

“I didn’t know the gun was loaded.”

That pathetic excuse takes on a whole new dimension when the “gun” is a recoilless rifle, a seven foot long anti-tank weapon that fires a high-explosive round that is nearly three inches in diameter.

On January 11, 1970, the D Troop, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry of the 1st Cavalry Division were cleaning their weapons at their base in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam. One of the crew members, not knowing his recoilless rifle was loaded, accidentally fired it. The ensuing explosion killed four soldiers, including PFC Richard Bruce Spence of Grove City. This happened just twelve days after PFC Spence had arrived in Vietnam.

After graduating from Grove City High School in 1968, Richard B. Spence completed an airline school course in Hartford, Connecticut. He worked at La Guardia Airport in New York until he joined the army in July, 1969.

He completed basic and advanced individual training as a crew member on a recoilless rifle, which is essentially a long tube that fires an explosive anti-tank round. Slated to go to Vietnam, he spent a 22-day furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Spence, during the 1969 Christmas Holiday. PFC Spence left Grove City on December 28 and arrived in Vietnam on December 30.

He was posthumously promoted to corporal and awarded the Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Panel 14W Line 028