• Article Photo. Ronnie Johnson: Vinton Vet who died in Vietnam is among those honored with new bench.
    Ronnie Johnson: Vinton Vet who died in Vietnam is among those honored with new bench.
  • Article Photo. Ronnie Johnson and his buddy Jim
    Ronnie Johnson and his buddy Jim

Editor's Note: Although the event was moved from Veterans Park to the Vinton American Legion Hall because of rain, the Memorial Day service in Vinton included the dedication of a bench in memory of the three local veterans who died during the Vietnam War. 

Those three included Wayne W. Wutzke, who died May 17, 1970, in Cambodia' Joe Lynn Fowler, who died May 16, 1969 in Vietnam and Ronald Johnson, who died July 8, 1967, two days after being wounded in combat.

Ronald’s sister Susan shared this tribute in honor of him: 

When I was 8 years old, I thought the world was safe and everything around me was harmless. I had the sense of security with my family and my home! 

We lived in a neighborhood in a small town in Iowa at the edge of town. My Father purchased a lot and an old square schoolhouse. My father, Robert was very prideful and very ambitious. My father was diagnosed with polio when his first-born a son Ronald (Ronnie) was born in 1948.  My father did not let that dishearten him or dampen his visions, you see, my father was also a Marine.  

A few years later in 1952 the second child was born, a girl, Vicki, in 1954 another girl, Mary, and last but not least, in 1958, supposedly to be a boy, but surprise, another girl, Susan.   

We played outside all day long from sunup to sundown. We played kick the can with the entire neighborhood kids and went to Bowman’s Grocery store on our bikes every chance we got for penny candy and a nickel bottle of pop.   

In 1966, my brother Ronnie enlisted in the Marines to fight in the Vietnam War.  My brother was very proud just like my father and both of them were good-hearted men. On July 08, 1967, my brother and two of his fellow Marine brothers had fallen that day. Everyone thought that Ronnie was going to be alright, but he lived for only two days and had too many internal injuries.   

See we three sisters never really knew what happened due to the information the government really gave you at that time and our parents never really wanted to talk about it as they were so grief stricken. All we knew is that he was hit by a land mine.   

It was not until four years ago that I was contacted by a fellow Marine in Ronnie’s Kilo Company 3rd Battalion 1st Marines. He told me that there was a friend of Ronnie’s out in New Hampshire that wanted to contact any of Ronnie’s family members and if it was alright to give him my email address.  I immediately became excited as we Sisters really wanted some more information about what had happened to Ronnie and what he was like as a Marine.   

You see the reason Jim, Ronnie’s friend and Marine Brother, wanted to contact us was that he had blamed himself all these years for Ronnie’s death. Jim said that he was to go out that day, not Ronnie. You see, Ronnie was getting ready to come back to the states, his tour was over, but it was Ronnie’s wish that he go out with his guys one last time before he came home.  We all know who God wanted to take home that day and it wasn’t Jim.   

We’ve since been invited and have attended all of Ronnie’s Kilo Company reunions and learned so much from all of his Marine Brothers about our Brother.  I can’t tell you how much I respect these men. The high caliber of men in this group just amazes me, from pastors of churches, to federal judges and honest hard-working Americans, and my brother was a part of this group!  We sisters love them as we did our own brother and they return that same love to us. This fall we three sisters will be visiting New Hampshire and staying with Jim and his wife.  He has become our big brother!  Accompanying this story is a picture that Jim had sent to us just a few years ago of him and Ronnie back in Vietnam.  Semper Fidelis.