RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
May 28, 2001
Today we Honor U.S. war dead
By Don Cox, Ray Hagar and Jeff Donaldson
Charles Harton, a Marine Corps sergeant during the Korean War, remembers when his brother died in a gunfight in a rice paddy. Henry Melendres remembers when his brother died in the Vietnam War and hearing his father cry for the first time. And Bill Bettridge remembers his B-17 crew mate, William Bane, who was struck and killed by a piece of flak over a Romanian oil field.
These soldiers are among the hundreds of thousands of men and women who died in war and who will be honored today, Memorial Day, a national day of mourning that began after the Civil War. Here are some of their stories:
Green lieutenant
Steven Kosach recalled arriving in Vietnam as a green Army first lieutenant during the 1968 49'er season and finding a fellow San Francisco 49er fan in the platoon he was about to command.
"They were reading the newspaper," Kosach said of the scene as he introduced himself to his troops. It was Monday. I asked, 'Hey, how did the 49ers do?' One guy said, 'They won.' He was pretty enthusiastic. He said, 'are you a 49er fan?' "
Kosach, a San Francisco Bay area native, had grown up rooting for the 49ers. So had Vic Navone, also a Bay area native, who'd given Kosach the score.
Navone was the platoon's radio operator, a man who always would be at the side of the young lieutenant. "We got really tight," said Kosach, now a Washoe District Court judge. They spent months in the jungle together, part of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade of the Americal Division. Their company commander got killed. Kosach took his place and brought Navone with him.
"We're digging (fox) holes together every night. He was my best friend in my life."
Kosach saw men die in Vietnam. But he and Navone kept going. In April 1969, Navone went on leave to Hawaii then returned to the war. He had only two months left before his Vietnam tour was up in June.
But, Navone, recipient of the Bronze Star Medal for valor, was killed his first night back from Hawaii.
"Vic and I had dinner at battalion headquarters," said Kosach, who played baseball at UNR. "He went out on guard duty. I went to sleep in the company hooch."
"A guy woke me up and said, 'Hey, Vic's been shot. You've got to come over to the MASH.'"
Navone had been shot by one of his fellow soldiers. It was an accident, a soldier with a rifle reacting to something in the dark.
"That was the tragedy of that war," Kosach said. "You're humping the mountain, you're living like a dog and you get killed by one of your own guys."
Kosach still talks regularly with Navone's mother. They exchange Christmas cards. "That's the one I remember the most," said Kosach, who was awarded a Silver Star and Bronze Star for valor and a Purple Heart for being wounded in Vietnam.
"I lost guys. Guys were killed. Vic is the one I remember the most."
Scholarship to Emileigh Norling was presented by Carole Clark Reese, May 30, 2007
"This scholarship was established by Mary Navone, Victor’s mother, as a tribute to his memory following his death while serving in the Vietnam War. As a member of Homestead High School’s 1964 graduating class -- the first class to graduate from Homestead -- I have been invited to present this award to a deserving student. It is an honor for me to do so, as this scholarship represents a heartfelt and positive way for a bereaved mother to cope with the unthinkable death of her son. Victor was a classmate, a neighbor and a conscientious citizen – to remember him by rewarding students who demonstrate academic and community involvement is a fitting memorial to his all-too-short life. This year’s recipient wrote, “Being true to yourself is sometimes hard to do, and you often are found standing alone.” These are words to live by. As you accept this award, I know that you will carry forward with the integrity and social responsibility that Victor Navone embodied. Congratulations Emileigh Norling."
